Two Worlds, One Love
by DutchAver
Summary: A love can be strong enough to survive ten years, but what if that love is misused? R&R! Rated T due to a couple of references.
1. Unreachable

Well, some read it through my profile, others through PM... I'm beginning a new story, of which Night of Riddles is the prequel. That one-shot will play a major role, so it is advisable to read that one first. I'll post the first two chapters together, then I'm going to try to post every week - if it's later, I already apologize for that. If you find some mistakes, tell me; I always need to improve my English, after all, since it's not my mother language. After saying all of that, I give you the first two chapters of Two Worlds, One Love!

* * *

DISCLAIMER: I don't own His Dark Materials.

* * *

"You know... we promised to be here every Midsummer's day... at twelve o'clock..." It was Will who was talking. Some would say he was talking to an imaginary friend, in that garden, thinking of him as being crazy. Others thought he was mad at someone for being too late, and thought he was talking just to prevent himself from losing it.  
But they were all wrong.  
Will was talking to someone in another world.  
Lyra Belacqua, also named Lyra Silvertongue.  
_But for a while, I was the only one who could say her tongue is indeed made of silver. I don't know if that's still true, though. I don't think I'm the only one now who knows that.  
_She was beautiful, but it was ten years ago already. They were doomed to be apart, because they were living in other worlds. If you live in a parallel world that is not your own, your health suffers and you will die in ten years. That would mean he would be dead by now.

Nevertheless, they met. There were windows open between other worlds, and that's how they met. But the windows were closed and they were forced to live back in their own worlds again. However, to still be together, they both went, at Midsummer's day, at twelve o'clock, when the sun was at its highest, to the same place, because the Botanic Garden existed in both worlds.

The weather was bright and sunny, as usual in the middle of the summer, but even if it was one big rain, he would have come anyway.

"I've kept that promise now for ten years. I want to continue to keep it, but it's strange, because I don't know if you kept that promise. I know you would... but I'm doing more. I even moved closer to the Botanic Garden and I'm here every week. And, when it's Midsummers Day, I'm not here at twelve o'clock, but at eleven already. I'm always too early because I want to be with you. I'm still in love with you."

He looked at two people who sat on another bench. They looked at him as if he indeed was crazy. He decided to talk a little less loud. He continued his speech.

"I've been in love countless of times, or at least I thought I was. I did so, just to forget about you. But no matter how hard I try, I always end up with you again in my mind. I always compare other girls to you – and I know we promised not to, I know! But I just can't help it! Some are wearing shoes that I don't like, because your shoes were more beautiful to see, the voice of others is not to my liking, because your voice is softer..." Slowly, a tear popped up in a corner of Wills eye. Wiping it away with his hand, he continued again.

"You know, in my world, we have some sayings about love. One of them is that everyone has a soulmate in this world, and only with that soulmate, you truly feel complete. I know it's not true; because my soulmate does not exist in this world. My soulmate lives in a world where everyone has a dæmon and can see the other dæmons." He looked at his own, Kirjava, for a while. She nodded, and he continued.

"Another saying is that, when you spend 24 hours with someone under big pressure, saving people or even the world, you have a stronger relationship than an entire life lived together. I know it's true. I knew you for barely a year, and still I'm in love with you, ten years afterwards." He made a pause, to prevent himself from crying. It was so unfair they could not just... be together...

"When we're dead, we will find each other, and our atoms will be inseparable. I know we promised that, but it's not enough. I can't kiss you as an atom. I can't see your beautiful self, because it will be scattered. I want to see you now, alive." He swallowed, and then, he looked at his dæmon again.  
"Do you want to say something to Pantalaimon?" He said, for the first time talking to someone who was not Lyra, since he went to the Botanic Garden. Kirjava nodded again, and then it was her turn to talk.

"Pantalaimon, I know you're in another world. But what we did, together, without our humans, created love between us as well. Just like Will, I want to see you. Their love went further than even the greatest dæmon-taboo, and our love goes as well. You and I both don't have one human, no, we are two dæmons of two humans; I know it sounds really sad, I know. But that's how it feels, after all. It hurts to be apart from the other human, and it hurts to be apart from you as well. I want to see you again... if only I could..." If Kirjava was a human, she would have cried; but cats don't cry when they're sad, only when they have something in their eyes, and Kirjava hadn't.

For a while, it was silent again. Will, who was twenty three years now, said something.  
"Maybe, our love is strong enough to cross the worlds. It has been proven before, although it probably was some dream. But maybe you can hear me, maybe..." He stopped talking, because it became tougher every second he said these things.  
"Ah, you probably won't hear us..."

Sad as he was, he stood up. It was a quarter past twelve already. But he knew he could not leave the Botanic Garden. He felt like he wasn't done yet. So he sat down again, and he continued.

"I spent ten years of my life building the Republic Of Heaven, together with others, telling them God was not in a cloud or something, but in our own hearts. I know, God is dead, but it seems to be the only way to reach them. I told them as well we should make it comfortable for Him. Those ten years, I gave others a higher priority than myself. But the Republic of Heaven is not complete, or at least not for me. It will always be incomplete without you. That's why."

It was half past twelve and Will decided he had said enough. Finally, he felt like he was done. He repeated something he said before, which was breaking his heart.

"Ah, you probably won't hear us..." Nevertheless, he stayed in the Botanic Garden, hoping she could hear some of the words he was saying; and hoping he could hear her reply, although he didn't really hope that was going to happen.


	2. Like A Broken Phone

DISCLAIMER: I don't own His Dark Materials.

* * *

Will was wrong. Lyra _could_ hear him.  
Well, hearing was a word too big for what she did. She read the alethiometer.  
She studied the alethiometer countless of times, and at last, she could read it again. Not fully yet, she still needed books to be sure of the meaning of the symbols, but the majority was comprehensive enough for her.

Several years ago, shortly after they parted, she remembered running to the library. She read the alethiometer and searched in the books for an answer. The question was: _Can I see Will again?  
_  
The answer was the anchor. Immediately, she thought it meant she had to be fair, the anchor meaning honesty, and maybe she would see him again. But, after reading the books carefully, she found out the anchor also meant waiting. So the answer was: _Wait._Immediately, Lyra knew what the alethiometer was saying. But she didn't want to see Will dead, she wanted him alive. So, she rephrased the question, and after reading the books carefully, she deciphered the words to the images on the alethiometer, and she came up with the question: _Is there any chance I'll be seeing Will alive?_ Once more, the alethiometer said just one thing; the anchor again. _Wait_, was the answer once more. Sighing and triple-checking the books, hoping for another meaning, she tried again, rephrasing for a second time. _How can I see Will alive?_ And for the third time, the answer was the same. _Wait_.

So she waited, ten years. She came to the Botanic Garden every Midsummer's Day. But this was the first time she used the alethiometer to hear what he was saying. She took a notebook with her, to write some meanings she might not yet understand. She quickly started.  
_  
Is Will here?_ The answer was _yes_.  
_What is he saying? _And the alethiometer quickly started telling her what Will was saying. About his love, about the Kingdom of Heaven which he was building, he moved really close to the Botanic Garden... it touched her, all of those words. Some symbols she wrote, to check on them later; she didn't really get the meaning of some. When the alethiometer was done, Lyra asked what he was thinking. The answer made her laugh.  
_He wonders if he's still the only one who knows your tongue is made of silver._He was. She never was really interested in other guys, other than Will. Billy Costa tried to make her his girlfriend couple of times, but eventually, he gave up, going steady on somebody else. She thought she was in love two or three times, but very quickly, she found out they were not really the right type to fall in love with. Only Will was, which meant she could not keep her promise, no matter how hard she tried. She even tried to fall in love with somebody else, that somebody else being Billy Costa, but she realized it was unfair for him to pretend she was in love with him. For now, she wasn't interested, but she was sure it came. Once she was done with Will, but that could take a long long while. Going every year to the Botanic Garden didn't really help. Lyra started to reply, hoping Will could get at least some of her words.

"Well... I know you feel sad. I want to be with you, every atom of my body. And eventually, I will... but I don't want to wait. You know, I've probably told you this before, but I hope you'll hear something I'm saying now. Once we left, and I went to Dame Hannah's school, I tried to read the alethiometer, and the question was "Can I see Will alive?" The answer was the anchor, which meant wait. But I can't wait, I want you right here right now... but I know it's impossible, so I have to live without you. I've been working hard, trying to deserve the angels' way of travelling through the worlds, and also to regain my ability to read the alethiometer. I've worked as hard as three people would, always thinking about others first. I want to see you again, but it would be unfair to stay in one place and just wait for you to join me; maybe that's what the alethiometer meant with waiting. Or, the anchor did mean honesty, and if that's true, then I have to be true to the Republic of Heaven, so that's what I will be. Or, there might even be a small chance it means true to you..." She paused a little, and she looked around, trying to regain her breath. Just like Will, she was close to crying now, but she tried to stop her tears.  
"Anything to be with you." She swallowed and continued.

"Well, I suppose you also want to hear a little about how I'm doing. I'm almost done with studying the alethiometer, so, as I told you already, I started finding people to help build the Republic of Heaven and I've become quite famous in Oxford. The Magisterium in my world has almost lost all it's power, fortunately. Maybe they know their God is dead, maybe they don't, but I don't think it's a coincidence." Another pause. She swallowed to stop her tears, and then she knew there was something else, a very important thing, to say.

"The 'dream' you spoke of, wasn't a dream. I dreamt it as well, the window and you being in my room, us going to the cinema... I still carry that picture with me, even though it was seven years ago."  
She looked at Pantalaimon, saying with her eyes it was his turn to say something.

"Kirjava, it's rare for the two of us to love each other still. When two people fall in love with each other, the reaction of the dæmons is falling in love with each other as well, and so did we. However, if the two humans are no longer seeing each other, the dæmons forget about each other. That's not what we're doing now, do we? I still love you, so much it hurts." Pantalaimon swallowed this time.

"Shall we go, Lyra? I don't think I can stay here much longer." Lyra understood. It was enough already. She had to continue working for the Kingdom of Heaven again: unlike Will, she simply did not have the time to visit the Botanic Garden every week. Although she always kept the entire Midsummer's Day free.  
"It's time for us to go now."

* * *

In both worlds, one dæmon and one human left, back into the empty waste of another day, living without each other. Lyra's hope was for naught, just like every year: Will still hadn't heard anything Lyra said. For Lyra, it was just like a telephone with a broken microphone, although she didn't know what a telephone was.

* * *

Far, far away from that, the voice of Xaphania sighed. She _had_ to bring the two together, she just had no choice. Only then, she could do what she wanted to do; but it felt like _using_ them... there was no point in hesitating. She had to, and now.

* * *

Well, that was it, I guess. I hoped you liked chapter two just as much as the first... this will be more than a love story between Lyra and Will, don't worry. There will be enemies, and excitement and things... you will see some of it in chapter three, but the real stuff comes in chapter four – don't worry, the story won't get boring, at least, I hope not. I just need some chapters to make clear the way Lyra and Will feel; after I've done that, the true excitement will begin!

And, one more thing. I have a question for all my Dutch readers(I know you're there, ReaderTraffic told me so), which I would like to have answered in English when in a review, but if you'll PM, I'd be happy to read Dutch. We all know who Lyra is, at least the majority of us; with books translated and things; and yet, there isn't a single His Dark Materials fanfic in Dutch. I'm thinking about translating mine, but only if I'll hear enough from you. So, the question is, should I translate my stories in Dutch? I hope to hear from you guys soon!


	3. A Disturbed Morning Routine

DISCLAIMER: I can't write as well as Philip Pullman, so I don't own it.

* * *

"Pantalaimon... listen... don't you think I've already earned the right to know what you did with Kirjava?" Lyra's direct question shocked Pantalaimon a bit. He thought Lyra had forgotten already, but apparently she hadn't. They were already walking back again, towards the Jordan college. The weather outside was just as beautiful as it was in Wills world, with a bright sun. She'd love to watch the sun together with Will, and maybe he was watching the sun, maybe he wasn't. Lyra didn't really feel like checking the alethiometer on that one, and she really wanted to know Pantalaimon's answer as well.

"You have, but still, I can't tell you. Only when the time is nigh, and it might sound strange, but that is not my task to decide." Pantalaimons cryptical answer puzzled Lyra. She already felt her hand gliding to her pocket, in which the alethiometer was...

"You won't read it, I know that. It'd feel like betrayal to you." Pantalaimon said, and hearing that made her coming back to her senses. If it wasn't Pantalaimons right to decide, who would she be to make it hers? Unless that's what Pantalaimon meant... yes, he had to mean that.

"You'll tell me now. You said it wasn't your task to decide, so I suppose it's mine? Fine, tell me!"

"It is not yours either." Pantalaimon was still sounding calm.

"Then whose is it?"

"I can't tell you. It's too important. Only when the time is nigh, I will tell you, and I promise you, that time will come soon enough."

This answer immediately silenced Lyra, although it was only for a little while: because it didn't stop her mind working. If they were doing something of little importance, then she would have known already! Maybe, there was something very important, something she missed but Pantalaimon knew, maybe, maybe it could mean she could –

"Does it mean I can see Will again?"

"Stop asking. Now. You will know soon enough." Pantalaimon sounded really annoyed now, so Lyra decided she'd stop asking. Her thoughts went back to that night, the night of riddles, seven years ago...

* * *

...So did Wills thoughts. He was walking home again, thinking of Lyra, somehow knowing Lyra was in the Botanic Garden as well. He remembered the strange night, but also the nights together, when they were ten years younger again. How much he loved her, which couldn't be said in proper words.

Kirjava walked next to him, but was silent – Will never was that much of a talker, and because of that, nor was Kirjava. Both were left to each others thoughts; Kirjava still feeling sad about not seeing Pantalaimon, and Will being sad about not seeing Lyra.  
He realized something he did not want to know. Before the adventure, they didn't know each other, and Will was glad they did now, but in those adventures, he had also met Lyra, and fell in love with her. And still, he fell in love so much it _hurt_. It was true, and Will did not want to know this, but he had to face it: he loved her so much, it would have been better if he never met her. She – no, her love – was like a Spectre, haunting him; the fact they had to be apart was terrible, and Will felt he was going into bitterness more and more everyday. He had to see Lyra soon, even if that meant another unexplainable dream; he just had to see her again, to get out of this depression and this bitterness.

Will was back home again. He no longer lived with his mum: she recovered from the Spectre, who haunted her, quickly. She was back into her old self, although Will didn't really know what that was when he first came home. She was also there the morning after the strange night, when he was sixteen... he explained to her how that picture disappeared, and once more, his mother didn't believe him, until he came with proof. The picture of Lyra he'd made.

After that, he still stayed four years with his mother, and then, he was done studying. He moved closer to the Botanic Garden, and started working on the Kingdom of Heaven. He worked hard enough, and still managed to be very often in the Botanic Garden. He became quite famous for his work, trying to make people more loving for each other; although groups who were fanatically Christian didn't seem to like him, saying God lived in their hearts, thus saying he lived in them, thus saying he was inferior to humans. One guy once started a conversation with him, saying: "God is dead, and you killed him."

_He didn't know how right he was._

He put his jacket on the coat rack. He took the rest of the day off, for Lyra, and since he already went to the Botanic Garden, he didn't plan on coming back until tomorrow. Kirjava followed him to the small living room of his apartment, but seemed very depressed. Of course, Will knew this, but ignored it nevertheless; he knew why she was sad, because of the same reasons he was sad. They entered the living room, going back into everyday life very quickly.

* * *

At the end of the day, both Kirjava and Will fell asleep quickly, the sadness and loneliness still screaming in their hearts. Maybe they'd go back to the Botanic Garden tomorrow; the feeling of Lyra being there always cheered him up – plus, Lyra and the Botanic Garden were inseparable in his mind. Thinking of one usually meant thinking about the other as well – so, if he couldn't see Lyra, he just had to do with the Botanic Garden. They both fell asleep – or all four would be more appropriate, since Lyra also went to bed around that time. Or at least, Will hoped she would; maybe that'd mean another night of riddles...

* * *

Will woke up again, feeling even emptier than when he fell asleep. His dream was about Lyra; but not a living Lyra. He went to her world, and saw her dying, and somehow it was his fault; so he tried to follow her, because he knew she'd be waiting for him... but there was no such luck, because he suddenly couldn't die; no matter what he tried, he came back alive afterwards. Well, the nightmare was over, so Will did his morning routine and took a shower. Kirjava went, just like every day, to the living room; since cats don't want to shower and don't need to shave. Will didn't enter the living room yet – the bathroom door linked both his room and the bathroom directly, without a hallway – and, while Will was shaving himself, he heard his dæmon scream, and not very quickly afterwards, she said: "Will? I think you should come now!"

"Just a second, I'm shaving!"

"This is too important!" Will rushed to the living room, his face still full of shaving cream, around his waist only a towel, still wet from the shower, and when he entered the living room, he saw the biggest surprise of the last ten years.

"Will Parry, right? Would you come with me, after you've changed and washed your face?"

* * *

At first, I was planning onto making this chapter and chapter 4 one, but I didn't want to put too much rush in this, and make this chapter too long; so for the true excitement, just one – or two – more weeks waiting!


	4. Questions and Answers

DISCLAIMER: If only I COULD have Philip Pullmans writing abilities... and if I could, Lyra and Will would be together. However, neither of those two happened, so I don't own the story!

* * *

Lyra was home, tired as she was. As one of the few days, she had nothing to do at Midsummer's Day, so she decided she was going to cook a meal for herself, preferably a complicated one, so it would take her a long long time. Cooking was one of her hobbies, although she usually tried to cook very quickly; because she'd probably have an appointment fifteen minutes later. Lyra really hated doing nothing; although both she and Pantalaimon knew why.

She was fleeing from Will.

Just like Will tried to forget her, using other girls to fall in love with, Lyra flew from Will, working. If she couldn't do anything, she would think of Will, and thinking of Will made her incredibly sad. She gave him one hour to enter her life, but then he had to go away. And since she couldn't stop thinking about Will, she decided to work herself out of it, to make her think of other things that were not Will.

The meal was indeed complicated, but delicious anyway; it was a Gyptian meal, famous all over the world; just as well because of the patience needed to make one, as it was delicious.

After the meal was over, Lyra changed into her pyjama. She wondered what Will would be doing now, but it didn't help thinking about him; she wore her pyjama and fell asleep quickly after she fell into bed.

* * *

Lyra woke up again; she dreamt of thousands and thousands of appointments, all at the same time. A true nightmare, since she hated canceling one. She filled a bath quickly, and then she stepped into it; Pantalaimon lied on the floor close to her. She respected her privacy a lot; but saying your dæmon couldn't see you naked sounded to Lyra like keeping secrets from yourself; since your dæmon is a reflection of your soul. She stepped out of the bath, changed and went to her living room.

Just like Will, she got a big surprise.

"Is it true you are Lyra Belacqua, also named Lyra Silvertongue? If it is, could you follow me?"

* * *

Lyra was just as shocked as Will, seeing an angel in her house. He – it was a man – looked very, very old, he seemed even to match the Authority's age. His face had wrinkles all over it.

"What are you doing here? What's wrong?" The angel didn't reply. He just said she had to come with him. Lyra shared a look with Pantalaimon, but they both understood they had to come with the angel; all the evil angels were turned to the good side, or killed. So, she did what the angel said. She didn't bother to ask the name of the Angel: when someone falls in your house telling you you should come with that person, you've got better things to think of, than that persons name.

* * *

"You know, this is not my everyday suit... it's not really nice to disturb my privacy..." Will complained.

"Change and come with me. This is urgent, very urgent, so I'd like you to change quickly, and be quick in washing your face as well." Will kept his mouth shut and did what the angel requested. Afterwards, he went to his living room, and the angel guided him.

It was a female angel, with black hair, and very beautiful; but Will did not watch her beauty. Will had some girlfriends in the past, but in the end, they all abandoned him; either they found out and thought he was crazy, and it isn't a good idea to go steady with someone who's mad. Others found out as well, and believed him; afterwards, they broke up, because they didn't want to be a second choice. And the third category simply broke up because they found out they were in love with someone else, just the common reasons that make a relationship stop. Bottom line was; he gave up on everyone else for a year now, unable to forget Lyra, and didn't really watch the beautyness of other girls, or angels. He went out of his house and closed the door.

* * *

"All right, here we stop." Both of them, meaning Will and Lyra, were in the Botanic Garden again, on exactly the same spot, wondering why they were led into that place.

"Kirjava, isn't there something you should tell your human?"

The cat nodded. At the same time, another dæmon, Pantalaimon, nodded as well. They both had to start with the secret they had kept from their humans.

"There is something you should know, something I kept as a secret from you, Will. Do you remember, when you came to the world of the Dead, you had to abandon me? Well, there was only one window through which you came, and you closed it immediately. Do you have any idea how I left that world?"

Will was shocked he didn't think of that. Could this mean he was going to be reunited with Lyra again? At the same spot, but in another world, Lyra was angry at Pantalaimon he kept it a secret. But, Pantalaimon continued, just as Kirjava did.

* * *

"We crossed many worlds, trying to stay away very far from you, to punish you, because you left me alone, Lyra. But, again, if we indeed did cross so many worlds in such a short time, that would mean there were billions of windows open, and if that was the case, then how come there was still lots of Dust left? And how can you explain the fact that there wasn't any everyday-life traffic between the worlds back then?" This struck both Will and Lyra hard, the simple sense there was in those words, and yet, they hadn't seen it...

* * *

"The answer is impossible, you might think, and yet, it's the truth, Will. We, Pantalaimon and I, made those windows, helped by an angel. He, Barlingon was his name, gave us the temporary ability to open and close windows, just when we wanted to. However, that was bonded by the Subtle Knife, and when that was destroyed, our ability was as well."

"But... why was that told to me?"

"You're here to be reunited with Lyra, sooner than we wanted, but we had no choice. We made your dæmon tell you this, because you have to believe it is possible." Will's heart started beating louder than ever before. He was going to see Lyra again? Incredible!

* * *

Lyra heard the same.  
"I do believe it is possible, like I always have. You don't need a story to make me believe I can see Will again. Why do you think I've worked so hard? To earn the right to see my precious Will again, the one I love the most of this world – of all worlds. Is there any other thing you need to tell me? If not, then tell me how to get back to the one I love." She paused a little, the male angel being silent.  
"Wait a minute, why do you want us to be together anyway? Not that I'm not interested, or I don't trust you, it's just..." The angel smiled at Lyra's rush. He paused a little longer, to make Lyra come back to her senses, and then he started.

"You've built the Republic of Heaven. But, as you thought so many times yourself, it will never be complete without Will. And it _has_ to be complete, to make humans produce enough Dust to compensate the Dust that escapes through the only window that stays open. And your sadness compensates your efforts, so you're still not producing enough. Well, since you can't seem to be waiting, let's start, right?" Lyra nodded. She felt her heart beat faster; this was what she wanted, so badly it was tearing her apart for ten years. It wouldn't be long now until her patience would be rewarded...

* * *

At the same time, a being hid in the darkness. It would not be long now until he got what he wanted. He had to wait for ten years, but, just like Lyra, his patience would be rewarded soon...

* * *

And there's another evil cliffhanger! I hope you enjoy it so far, and I really like reviews!


	5. A Failed Reunion

This chapter is the reason the story is rated T, due to a... reference at the end of the chapter. You have been warned!

* * *

DISCLAIMER: For four chapters, I haven't owned His Dark Materials, and I think I still don't own it... so, I don't own it!

* * *

"Does she want to be with me? Does she still love me?" Will asked the question before he even realized he did. The female angel smiled.

"Yes, she still loves you a lot and wants to be with you. Don't hesitate when you'll see each other again; we need more Dust, after all." Will felt like he was being used, but he didn't mind at all; everything was fine, as long as he could be with Lyra.

* * *

"Do one step to the right. This is because you're both standing on the same spot, which makes it unable to work. Now, look to your left. Try to imagine him standing there, try doing it so hard, that you're actually seeing him, even if it is only in your imagination." Lyra tried, focusing on her left. He was standing there and he was only an effort away from coming to her world. And it worked – he was standing there, she could have sworn it; she saw the shape of his body.

"Very well done! Now, try to stand in the exact same position as him. Even one inch, one millimeter, makes it impossible." Lyra tried hard, very hard, and with success. The shape of Wills body came closer and very slowly, she saw the shape become clearer – she could see his nose, his eyes, his lips, his hair... every part of Will she loved. And then, she created a window. And on the other side of the window, _he_ was standing.

If she knew what a roller coaster was, she'd say her heart was beating like one: It was like it wanted to jump out of her body and go to Will all by itself. This was what she had dreamt of, for too long. Because it was the boy she loved, it was Will.  
He was changed a little, seemed a bit older and wiser, but it was Will nevertheless.  
Will.  
Her Will.

* * *

Will saw Lyra again.  
After following the female angels' instructions, he did exactly what Lyra did, and with results: he looked her in the eye and she fell, straight into his arms. Both of their hearts were beating a lot, being pleased to see each other again.  
_I'm never going to let you go now._

They hugged, and kissed for a while; time seemed to stand still, and Will hoped it would stand still forever, but there was no such luck. After being together again, they looked at the angels – it were two now, supposedly the old man joined the woman through the window – and they thanked them, but the angels stayed.  
"I have to ask you something Lyra. Seven years ago... did you have a dream?"

_He didn't hear me_, was the first Lyra thought. But she couldn't blame him, thus, she nodded.  
"It wasn't a dream. I had the same; you suddenly stood into my room, after I was falling into bed, we changed, and we had a great time together. You took a picture of me and gave me one of yours, and I still carry that one with me everyday. Maybe, maybe we were lying in our beds in exactly the same way..." Lyra said, full of excitement. Will was even more beautiful than she could remember...

"No, that's not possible. Our beds were not lying in exactly the same way; they were lying in a mirrored way, with only the head ends on the same spot. Plus, we didn't live in the same place back then."  
Lyra knew Will was wrong.

"Yes, we did. The Jordan college has got many buildings, and that day, because the college itself was full, I had to live in a building apart from it. It's coincidental, but we lived on the exact same spot back then." Will never regretted the fact he moved more.  
One of the angels, the female one, suddenly came forward and said something.

"It's simply not possible; you had to try first, you didn't try to be together, you never saw one another's shapes... am I right?" Both nodded.  
"Wasn't it just a normal dream?" This time, both of them shook their heads and started talking over each other.  
"I have a picture in here..."  
"I missed my picture afterwards, and..."  
"He made a picture of me, and I think he's got that one with him..."  
The angel had to tell both of them to stop for a while.  
"But, if it wasn't a normal dream, then what was the explanation?"

Lyra nor Will looked like they cared. After all, they were together again, and wanted to enjoy the presence of one another once more. They thanked the angels again, who were puzzled because of that dream, and were trying to find a solution; but when they started talking in old Angel-language, Lyra and Will were already a long way, heading for Wills house, not caring yet about the way back to Lyra's world.

* * *

"Do you know what's going on here?" The female angel spoke to the old man. They were talking in their own old angel-language.  
"This dream sounds familiar... there is only one way they could have met. Through a window."  
"But, a window means it was..." The female angel did not have to finish her sentence. Both of them were thinking the same thing.  
"We need to go to Xaphania now, and very very quickly." The angels nodded both and disappeared into another world, using their own way of traveling.

* * *

But the two humans weren't the only ones to be glad to see each other; two animals – or better said, dæmons – saw one another as well, and they didn't really seem to mind. Pantalaimon followed Lyra through the window, and was pleased to no end to see Kirjava again, and that feeling didn't come from one side only. They had to catch up a lot, but that would have to wait; for now, they only could talk. And they did talk.  
"I missed you, Kirjava. I missed you a lot, and I'm glad to see you again," Pantalaimon started the conversation.  
"So am I, Pantalaimon. So am I. Even though our love is just a reflection of the love between Lyra and Will, that doesn't mean it can't be strong. I'm glad to be with the other human again, as I said in the Botanic Garden... although I don't think you heard that."  
"I did. Lyra read the alethiometer and he told both of us what the two of you were saying. We will have to find a solution to the problem both of them are living in another universe, though I don't think it will be hard to find one."  
Both nodded.

* * *

They arrived in Wills house, and quickly, Lyra started kissing him. This was what she missed for too long. Will began stroking Lyra's cheek; both were enjoying the fruits of love a lot, since they missed it for too long. They kept on kissing for a long while, in both their heads planning things that won't be told in this story, but before Will could say anything, Lyra vanished. Will looked around, but with no succes; she was gone.  
Vanished into thin air.  
Disappeared without a trace.  
Lyra was no longer in Wills house.  
And neither Will, nor Kirjava knew where she was.

* * *

And I've left you with another cliffhanger! I hope you liked this chapter – I'm sorry if it was a bit too fluffy, and a bit too short, because that's exactly how I felt about this one: but I had no choice, I had to write their happiness down, and happiness is hard to write down when you want to write long chapters(which makes me better in writing down sadness than happiness... knowing that feels... sad). But I promise, it's going to get worse. Next chapter will hopefully come next week, so you have to do with this one for a week – I hope you'll read chapter six as well, then!


	6. A Search and a Hunt

DISCLAIMER: I don't own His Dark Materials.

* * *

_Not again... not another night of riddles... I thought you were back to me...  
_Will cried, and Kirjava was quickly in a state of a lot of sadness, since Pantalaimon disappeared with Lyra. Instead, they now had two angels, who quickly sensed the use of this strange thing that looked like magic. They quickly started communicating in an old language, and afterwards, the male angel said to Will: "We'll help you with looking for Lyra."

* * *

Will, the angels, and Kirjava split up, trying to look for Lyra and Pantalaimon. They had to find her quickly, before someone else did; once they'd find her, they would go back to Wills own house, and if nobody found her in an hour, they'd all go back to Wills house, since cats don't have a mobile phone and the angels could only communicate with each other.

* * *

Lyra released the kiss and was in another area of which she recognized to be one of Will's world, at the front door of a house that was empty; but she decided not to go in, she wanted to find Will very quickly. Then, she would be safe... but where to start?  
Lyra, who was lost, sat down on the little stairs leading to the abandoned house, and started to cry, out of desperation.  
Pantalaimon was at her feet, looking around confused, but when he was done doing that, he said what Lyra already knew.  
"We're in another area, but I'm sure it's Wills world... come on, Lyra! We have to start looking for Kirjava! Whatever the meaning of this magic was, it must have been used to set us apart! We've got to find Will and Kirjava again!" Lyra stood up, and she tried to look through her tears, trying to find a way out of this problem.

* * *

Lyra couldn't have been teleported too far away, so the angels and Will took an area not too big to search. They all walked into different directions; The male angel took the northeastern, the female one the southwestern, Kirjava the southeastern and Will the southwestern; when they'd all have a specified area to look in, they'd find Lyra much faster.  
The boy was walking through the streets, looking for a sign; he came closer to a house with stairs leading to the front door. He saw some dried drops of water on the stairs, and he hoped those were Lyra's tears; and not so far from those stairs, he saw a red-golden hair, of which he was sure it belonged to Pantalaimon. They had to be close, they had to be somewhere closely around, so Will doubled his pace.

* * *

Those four weren't the only ones who split up; worried about the thing that made them disappear, Pantalaimon and Lyra split up as well. They had a connection strong enough to know when the first one found one of the other searchers, so they didn't need a place to go back to, after an hour; just searching would be enough.  
Lyra walked to the right and quickly came in the southeastern part, where Kirjava, with her cat-eyes, was searching; and indeed, Lyra saw a cat with a black fur, apparently looking for something. She quickly ran to it, but the cat looked the other way, ran into an alley and when Lyra chased it, the cat was gone.  
_It probably wasn't Kirjava.  
_She wanted to take the alethiometer from her pocket, and she did; but without her precious books and her desperation, it was very hard to recall what she knew about the alethiometer. Nevertheless, she managed to ask:  
_How can I find Will again?_

The answer was the boat; Lyra needed to check the meanings she knew in her mind, and they were calmness, water, hope, floating, sailing, relaxing, the sea, and, the most likely one, searching; like Lyra didn't know she had to start looking for Will. The alethiometer was a useful thing, but sometimes it could only tell what was already obvious. Sighing, disappointed at the alethiometer, she continued her search.

* * *

Kirjava spent her time looking for Lyra, just as ordered – although she hoped she'd find Pantalaimon first. She was close to some alleys, where it was quite crowded; and indeed, she found a red-golden hair just like Will. She sniffed at it and indeed – it belonged to Pantalaimon. She tried to find that smell in the air – hating the fact she wasn't a dog – and she thought she smelt something. Not knowing she did so, she ran away from Lyra, heading for Pantalaimon. She left her part, knowing that if she did, she'd find Pantalaimon much faster.

* * *

The male, old angel took the northeastern part and started looking. He was unable to be seen by humans for now; he didn't want to be seen by them, so they didn't see him. It was an old trick angels knew, to mend in with the Dust in the air, unable to be seen unless they wanted to be seen, except for other angels, who could always see them.  
But in the northeastern part, nothing was seen. He looked around a couple of times but couldn't find any part of Lyra or Pantalaimon. It was very important they'd find the two of them.  
_If they are separated, then there must be a reason for it. The enemy wants to kill Lyra and then Will, but why do they have to be apart?  
_The angel felt something, like an arrow, in his back. He'd know the answer much faster than he wanted to. And he didn't like it.

* * *

The female angel watched over her part carefully. The two angels knew they had to find Lyra and Pan quickly, but where were they? Suddenly, she saw Kirjava running into her part.  
_What is she doing here? She must have found something!  
_The female angel wanted to hurry towards her, when she felt a great pain.  
Her companion had just died.  
And very quickly afterwards, she felt an arrow in her back as well. She never made it to Kirjava. She died as well, following the man she loved.

* * *

Pantalaimon walked east, Lyra west; he first went to the Jordan college, or at least, the place it should be in Lyra's world. From that building on, he began searching in a circle, growing constantly, hoping his systematic way of searching would help. He did indeed find something, but not something he liked; it was a smell all too familiar to Pantalaimon, and something told him he had to go away from it, but he couldn't. His enemy – he knew immediately what it was, because of the feeling it created in Pantalaimon – seemed to have paralyzed his legs. He couldn't move, and could only watch how the enemy came closer. He knew it would be the end for both him and Lyra if someone didn't come quickly.  
Because that enemy was a Spectre.

* * *

And here we've got another evil cliffhanger! I wish you a good wait until next week, and until next Sunday is here, be sure to leave a review!


	7. The Chase

Again, a T-rated reference in this chapter. I warned you.

DISCLAIMER: His Dark Materials is not mine.

* * *

Straight at that time, Kirjava ran and jumped at Pantalaimon. Both of them rolled over a very quite street. Pantalaimon was startled at Kirjava jumping him, not knowing it was her, and as soon as they were done rolling, Pantalaimon jumped and attacked Kirjava.  
"Stop! Stop! Pan, it's me!" Pantalaimon looked carefully and immediately recognized the dæmon.  
"Why did you jump at me like that?!" Kirjava wanted to interrupt Pan, but the Spectre came closer, and if it came close enough, the paralyze would come again... both the dæmons ran to Wills house.

"Spectres can't paralyze, can they?" Pantalaimon asked while running; leaving Kirjava without an answer. Clearly, there was more in this than just Spectres, but both of them had no time to wonder about that.  
What was more curious, was the fact that no one else saw the Spectre, just like no one saw the two dæmons. This meant the whole chase was invisible to normal men, and since they entered a crowded street, it was better that way.  
Another curious thing was that the Spectre wasn't heading for the other humans around; it only seemed to run to the pair of dæmons.  
This was perhaps the strangest thing; the Spectres were supposed to feed on whatever they could find, not having a goal. Something was ordering them...  
Running even faster, the dæmons saw Wills house already...

* * *

Lyra immediately sensed that Pan had found Kirjava, and she also sensed where he was at that time; she had a stronger connection with her dæmon than Will, since she had known her dæmon since she – or better said, both of them – were born; so she quickly ran towards the dæmons, going straight into the northwestern part, where Will was looking; and she saw the same enemy as Pan did, a second Spectre. There was no time to wonder who created it; instead, she had to run far away from it, going further away from Pan than she wanted. She ran into Will, pleased to see him, but unable to catch up for now. She explained her trouble in two words: "Spectre. Run."

Will, pleased at first, shocked later, tried to run in the same pace as Lyra, which was hard; Lyra was used to working hard, and thus used to cross distances in five minutes where others would take fifteen minutes, because she was late.  
"My... house... I... told... the... others... we'd... meet... there... in... an... hour... follow... me..." Will said, panting. Lyra held back her pace and followed Will as ordered. The hour was almost over, and after that, they'd all come back to Wills house; hopefully, they found the angels there as well, so they could kill the Spectre.  
Then, they would find out from who it came.  
And after that was done, everything would be all right.  
They didn't know the angels were dead already.

* * *

All four of them saw the house and each other at the same time; they quickly reunited, pleased to see one another, but without time to ask what was wrong. The two Spectres saw each other, and both chased the four – not surrounding them, Spectres aren't that smart – and those four ran around Wills house, hoping to see the angels, but they were not there yet. So, Lyra, Pan, Will and Kirjava hurried to the front door, opened it, closed it behind their backs and caught their breaths. A door was not enough for a Spectre to go through in just a second; they needed at least a minute to modify their shapes, so they could enter the house.  
"What are Spectres doing here?" Lyra started, still panting.  
"I have no idea. What have you seen?" Will looked at the pair of dæmons.  
"One Spectre paralyzed Pantalaimon. I was just in time to save him, and together, we ran away. Why can Spectres paralyze? That's never happened before!" Kirjava wondered. All four of them felt the Spectre coming closer through the door.

"How long does it take before the hour is done?" Lyra asked. Will checked his watch.  
"Just two minutes. We need two more doors to save ourselves." They ran from Wills hallway to his living room, from there into the second hallway that led to the bedroom, and from there into that room. In different circumstances, Will would have done different things, and maybe a parallel him would have used that opportunity, since Lyra was in his bedroom, but now, there were causes for greater concern.  
"Maybe... something else created the Spectres! Maybe it wasn't the Knife, but another evil thing! Maybe these are different Spectres!"  
"You're probably right. But what else could have created them? Are there any other ways to travel through-" Lyra interrupted Will.  
"YES! The Magisterium used a bomb to destroy me, remember? We fooled the bomb; but if that bomb is strong enough to travel through the worlds, then that must have created the Spectres! If we destroy them, everything will be all right! We only need to wait for the angels!"  
"But why did they wait ten years?"  
It was about time the angels came. And indeed, Will saw from his window two angels were coming to his house; so Will ran to his bathroom, from there back into his hallway, and then he could run away from the house. The other three followed Will. They ran outside. The Spectres chased them, since they left the doors open in their hurry to get outside.

"Thank God you're here! We're chased by two Spectres! Help us!" The angels took their bow and arrow and aimed it, but didn't shoot. They were standing on the other side, now effectively surrounding them and stopping them from running to escape the Spectres.  
"What's wrong?" Will asked, forced to halt.  
"Let us through..." The angels didn't do one thing. Will looked carefully at the bows and quickly got it; the angels weren't aiming for the Spectres.  
They were aiming for them.  
These were not the angels that helped them.  
Somehow, Will nor Lyra could see their faces, forced to look somewhere else. But the angels that helped them were always open and they knew how their faces looked like. It would make no sense to hide their faces from them.  
At the same time, Lyra realized her mistake.  
There was more to it than just a bomb.

* * *

Well... seven chapters and still, just four reviews. Seeing that makes me quite sad, to be honest; that's why I ask all my readers to review! If you don't like the story, that's fine with me; but review then, so I can use your criticism and improve my story. Anonymous and signed reviews are both welcome. If you like the story, please tell me that as well and make me happy. Please do review!  
This chapter was a little too short again, but I hope you liked it anyway!


	8. Spiritish

DISCLAIMER: I. Don't. Own. His. Dark. Materials.

* * *

"Stand still." The voice of the male angel spoke calmly. Will and Lyra had to raise their hands, fearing what would happen if the Spectres would take them; but they didn't. Instead, when they neared Pantalaimon and Kirjava, they stopped, as if they were cooperating with the angels; they probably were.  
Will nor Lyra could watch the faces of the other angels, strangely enough. They didn't know why, but they had to look somewhere else. Were these angels hiding their own identities? Why?

"Who is responsible for this?" Lyra's voice spoke. A laughter came, and as it seemed, out of nowhere, which made Lyra and Will look around, but with no success. The voice who just laughed said something.  
"Aawh, come on! Spectres! Angels under control! Don't you recognize it? No? I thought you would, Lyra Belacqua! You're dumber than I thought!"  
Something seemed to come out of nowhere, just like the voice was; supposedly, it was the owner of the voice.  
That owner looked somewhat... spirit-ish, but differently at the same time. Sometimes, you could look right through him, and at other times, he seemed as human as every other human. He looked completely human apart from that strange transparent ability; he had brown hair, blue eyes, an arrogant face and had an average length – just as long as Will and Lyra were. It laughed a mean laugh; just the laugh you would expect from some bad guy who is a little too full of himself. This guy – or spirit – seemed to be that as well, but that was no cause for concern. Not right now.

"Who are you?" Lyra asked this time, only more puzzled by this appearance.  
"Think, think, my darling!" He held his face really close to Lyra's.  
"Don't you see? The Spectres? Windows coming out of nowhere, just like in your dream? Who made them again? Come on, you're smarter than you look, after all!" Lyra swallowed and realized the impossible.  
"You... are... the Subtle Knife?"

"Do I look knify? Look at me, I'm a human! All right, I don't look steady enough, too transparent, but that problem will be solved soon. I'd prefer it if you would call me Aeshaettr."  
_So it was the knife, not the bomb. We're in for a lot of trouble.  
_"But, how is that possible?" It was Wills turn to talk again. Aeshaettr focused on Will this time, holding his face really close to Wills.  
"Think, think! I know you can! Your dæmons told you in the past the Subtle Knife had a mind of it's own! I am that mind!"  
"But how is that possible? Why aren't you in the knife?" Lyra asked again, still puzzled about the presence of this... being.

"Think! Think! Your love destroyed it, remember?" Aeshaettr seemed very pleased with himself, thinking he was smarter than Lyra and Will, knowing the two of them couldn't go anywhere.  
"You destroyed it before, right? And I always settle myself in the thing that destroys me – because, if the knife can't destroy it, it should be strong enough for me to stay in it. After all, what is love? Just a flow of Dust and someone like me should be able to settle in it." This time, Aeshaettr almost seemed sad.  
"Such disappointment! What is your love for your mother? Nothing! I could die any second and oh, I was so very pleased when you reforged that stupid thing! No, stand still, or we'll kill you!" Aeshaettr said calmly, full of himself, seeing Will wanted to slap him in the face.

"I love my mother..."  
"Second most than anything in all the worlds? Or third most, if you take Kirjava into account? Poor, poor mother. Such a family. Let me continue my story.  
But then, you destroyed the knife again, and I feasted, oh, such strong love! I could not have enough, it was like paradise, and I grew steadier and steadier every day! No more a ghost! Your silly love was so very strong, I could not stop feasting on it, and I became less and less transparent and stronger everyday..." Aeshaettr stopped. He looked at the faces of Lyra and Will to see what he did. He walked around them a bit, and then decided to continue.

"Or not as strong as I expected; after three years, your love started to grow weaker, but in my head, a plan was forming. You were the one who broke the knife," He pointed at Will, "therefore, I had to be around you, just like your dæmon, unable to be seen, but nevertheless, present. I gained enough power to create a window between your worlds when you fell asleep. When you saw her, your love shined as never before, and I could feast again; I did, knowing your love wouldn't grow weaker anymore." He paused again. Both Will and Lyra had to use all their power to stay in one place, not to slap him in the face; and their dæmons seemed to be doing the same.

"That's what hope can do, right?" With a grin, he walked circles around them, keeping himself moving, eager as he was to fulfill his plan...  
"Stupid hope." He paused once more, and then continued.  
"You were parted again, sad as you were – but, your love was strong enough for me to switch persons, and I switched to you, darling!" His face was back close to Lyra's. He paused again, really wanting to make his story as long as possible, and continued, walking again. Will grew mad.  
_If he kisses her... if he abuses her... then I´ll kill him.  
_This thought made Aeshaettr grow even steadier, and Will knew he had to mind his thoughts, if he wanted to make it out of here alive. Aeshaettr seemed to know what Will was thinking and grinned to Will. Then, he continued.

"I gained power from your love, from the way you flew from your Will in your work, and I became stronger and stronger; and I also became more connected to you. I became able to let you do the things I wanted you to do – have you never wondered why you didn't fall in love with another boy? Because I didn't want you to! And that day, I used my brave spies to manipulate that Xaphania, so you could be reunited! Pity she sent the wrong pair to you... but it doesn't matter, we've taken care of them. Anyway, your love grew even stronger, and when you two ran to Wills house, it was so strong, I finally could be a separate being, clearly visible! Only I had to teleport you away. I'm just so powerful, I do things I don't want to do... but it was useful after all, since I could send the Spectres to make sure you would run back to your own house..."  
"How do you control them?" Will interrupted Aeshaettr.

"Don't interrupt me!" Suddenly, the cheerful but arrogant Aeshaettr disappeared, and he seemed furious, his face becoming red. Though only for a second: he continued talking, back into his cheerful self.  
"I created those Spectres as the Knife, but I couldn't control them. However, when you destroyed the knife with your love for Lyra, I became stronger, and I could control them, making them do just the things I want them to do, just like I did with you, Lyra. But unlike you, they don't have a mind of their own... I couldn't make you do anything that went against your personality. But, I can't control you now, since I let myself go of you... it doesn't matter, we're here anyway." It was silent for a while, Will and Lyra being scared of Aeshaettr, too scared to interrupt him again.  
"Give me the knife." He said, after a while.  
"What? But..."  
"Give me the knife that was scattered."  
"But..."  
"You don't believe me, right? Well, ask Lyra. Ask Lyra to tell her story, what _she_ saw and felt during the night of riddles." It was silent again, Will asking her with his eyes. Lyra swallowed and began talking.

* * *

I didn't feel good about this chapter. It's too much info, too much words, and the enemy is too cliché... but I'm not going to split it up, since I wanted to tell all at once. I hope you liked it, and if you didn't, which I understand, then tell me what I should do to improve this chapter. And there are still mysteries left, for a reason. Good luck waiting!


	9. Flashback

DISCLAIMER: My name is not Philip Pullman, so I don't own his books.

* * *

_Lyra was sixteen and tired of yet another day. She studied the alethiometer a lot, but found it an instrument hard to understand. She remembered running to the library, asking the alethiometer about Will, but without results; she either had to wait or she had to be true.  
__It made no sense, absolutely not. She wanted to see Will above all things, but she didn't want to wait, she wanted him now. Maybe, in the future, she'd see him again, but for now, there was no such luck.  
__The Jordan college was full of students; she moved back to that college again, although she still had lessons at Dame Hannah's college. But her heart would always stay in one place, at Jordan's.  
__So she came back, but they didn't count on that; her room was given to someone else and there were no rooms left for someone with her age; so, the Jordan college gave her a small house, quite close to the Botanic Garden, and fortunately, also close to Dame Hannah's college. She didn't mind that at all, though; it made her both able to visit the Botanic Garden more often, and take lessons easier._

_She didn't do the former, because she was a hard worker and very eager to regain her ability to read the alethiometer, so the latter was more popular. Although she never, ever, ever, ever skipped Midsummer's Day; she forgot about the lessons then on purpose, to visit Will.  
__It was eight o'clock PM and she changed into her clothes. Tomorrow, it would be Midsummer's Day. She would go to the Botanic Garden again, and be with Will. She thought about bringing the alethiometer along, but knew that would be a bad decision; she couldn't read it well enough. Maybe in the future.  
__She wore her pyjama and fell asleep, Pantalaimon lying next to her._

_But there was no sleeping, she stayed awake. She just couldn't get to sleep, she didn't know why. There was however, one name spooking around in her head; and it was, surprisingly, Will.  
__She thought she'd be over him by now, but then again, who was she fooling? She loved him still and she would never forget him. That was the great problem about living in a world that wasn't the same as the world of the one you love.  
__Then, suddenly, she heard something click and looked around. As if he jumped out of her mind, he was standing there.  
__Changed, but nevertheless, it was Will.  
__She changed into her normal clothes quickly, Will back into his own world, leaving the window open. Afterwards, Lyra showed Will how to make fun in her world, especially around the Jordan college; she showed him how you could make fun of Gyptian kids, and told him about the day she conquered one of the ships to make it sink. It made him laugh._

_It was the laugh only Will could laugh, and suddenly, Lyra loved him more than ever before; it was as if her love was breaking a limit. She kissed him and Will returned that kiss and her love was even stronger. She felt as if Will was bringing something over, and he was, but she didn't know that yet.  
__They went to Wills world and went to the cinema. They had a great time together, watching the movie; since the movie wasn't the thing that was watched the most; they were watching and kissing each other.  
__Afterwards, they went back to their own beds and Will made a picture of Lyra. She smiled and afterwards, she was amazed such a thing was possible. They kissed once more and Lyra changed back into her pyjama again, just like Will did. They fell into bed and looked at each other through the window. They didn't close it yet; they wanted to watch each other a long time. Closing would be something to do tomorrow._

_It was morning again, and the window was gone, but Lyra knew it wasn't a dream she had experienced; she saw Wills picture lying on her desk and knew that he'd be with her forever now. She would never forget him again, nor would she stop loving him. She would always carry the picture with her._

"And that's how the transfer started! Now, you have your proof! Give me the knife!" Aeshaettr said, back in the normal world of the present.  
"Why do you want it?" Will asked.  
"There is still something left of me in the knife, the reason why I'm transparent. If I burn the remainders of the knife, the rest of me will come out. I will be strong, strong enough to start ruling the worlds. But I will let you go. Give me the remainders of the knife and all will go well. Come on, give it!"  
Will wanted to say to Aeshaettr he'd rather die than giving it to him. After all, he sacrificed his own needs for the needs of the world more often and he had nothing to lose.  
If he died, then Lyra would come with him. So would Pan and Kirjava. He'd rather die than see the whole world covered in darkness once more. He didn't want his mother to live that way.  
All of that, and more, was what he wanted to say to Aeshaettr. But he couldn't.  
Because, when he looked up to look Aeshaettr in the face, he wasn't there.  
His house was gone as well. Only Lyra, Pantalaimon and Kirjava were there as well.  
He was somewhere completely else, as if he was teleported away. He was in a big room and behind him, the others were standing, confused about the change of the background.

* * *

Short, but I'm satisfied about this one, better than about chapter eight. And now, the fun only starts! Just wait until chapter 11!


	10. A Night Without Riddles

This chapter contains yet another not-so-double reference. You've been warned.

* * *

DISCLAIMER: I wish I could write really funny disclaimers, but my sense of humor is not very large, if it comes to disclaimers. So, I'll do it the not-so-funny way; I don't own His Dark Materials.

* * *

"What is going on here?" Pantalaimon was the first one who broke the silence. He seemed to panic, and with reason. Somehow, Lyra and Will felt really sleepy and hungry.  
_This must be another villain with some kind of trick! What is going on here?  
_The voice of Pantalaimon echoed in the room, since it was big. It really seemed to have no end; the walls seemed to end up in the sky and even then, they were going further. There was no visible ceiling, but they were surrounded by four walls, just like in any other room. There were two doors, but they were both very far away, since the room was very big. It would probably take an hour just to get there.  
The walls were painted brown, the brown you usually see in big Victorian houses. It looked pretty, and they were glad to be here, but they also wanted to know what they were doing here. Both of them still had Aeshaettr in their minds, but they knew that whatever they were doing here, they'd better relax now, since they couldn't escape.

With a couple of seconds alone, Lyra could finally get a proper look at Will, since she didn't really took the time before this happened. He seemed older now, but it was clear to Lyra this was the same Will she knew long ago. He seemed older and wiser, but still, he didn't stand out a lot.  
Lyra loved him still, maybe even more than when they were sixteen years old, during the night of riddles... she knew, thanks to the alethiometer, Will had had a couple of girlfriends, but in the end, he always came back to her. She felt lucky with that information, knowing her soulmate loved her fully.  
And Lyra was watched as well. Will understood fully why there hadn't really been another one for him. She clearly was the daughter of Mrs. Coulter, but she was even more beautiful.  
Of course, it could have been Wills love that made her look better in his mind, but even then, Lyra would have been beautiful. Will felt really lucky she loved him and no one else.  
Finally, they heard footsteps and they looked in the direction from which they came. A voice spoke.

"Thank goodness you're all right!" It was Xaphania.  
"I'm sorry it took so long for us to bring you here, but we have our reasons. You must be very tired. It is eight o'clock PM now, so you must be exhausted. Teleporting takes a lot of energy." She couldn't have been more right.  
Running away from Spectres, being teleported twice, once by Aeshaettr and once by the angels, and using the angels way of traveling through the worlds had taken their toll on Lyra and Will, not to mention the dæmons. They didn't have any lunch or dinner, so they were very tired and very very hungry.  
"Yes, we are very tired, but hungry as well, but none of that matters. What are we doing here?! What is this place?!" Lyra asked, sounding demanding.  
"I don't think you're ready for an explanation. You're tired and hungry and there has been enough adventure for you today. You want a meal?" All four nodded.  
"Turn around." They could have sworn it wasn't there a second ago, but now, there was a big table with four seats, filled with the nicest things one could make on earth. Lyra's Gyptian meal was one of those things.  
Since dæmons are the souls of humans, they like the same thing as their humans like; so, Pan and Kirjava really wanted to eat along.  
Eating was not a necessity for dæmons, but more of something social; dæmons didn't need to eat, since they stay alive as long as their humans live, but, they sometimes did, to make their humans feel less lonely. And with such a delicious meal and four seats ready, the marten and the cat couldn't refuse. Lyra turned around again, though.  
"What are we doing here? What is going on here?" She asked Xaphania.  
"What is this for a strange room?" She still didn't trust her, and with reason. Just about five minutes ago, at least to her, she was standing on a completely different place.  
"Explanations will follow later. For now, you can eat and sleep. Tomorrow is the start of yet another fresh day, and you will get the information much better. You're worn out now, so enjoy your meal and your night!" Xaphania disappeared. Lyra and Will had the enormous room now all for themselves.  
It felt a little strange to both of them, to jump from a death threat to a table full of delicious meals, but they were too tired and too hungry to protest, or question. They trusted Xaphania and knew she wouldn't harm them.

On one of the scales, a couple of berries were lying. Immediately, Lyra knew what to do.  
"Will?" He turned around; the seats of Lyra and Will were next to each other.  
Lyra took a berry from the scale and put it in Wills mouth.  
Both of them had a strange déjà vu, but they didn't mind that. It was good for both Will and Lyra to be together for now, to feel the same feeling that preceded their first kiss. It was Wills turn and he gave Lyra a berry from the same scale. This pattern continued until the scale was empty.  
_I wish there were more berries_, Lyra thought. She looked at the scale once more; and, it was full again. This was like paradise, this felt like Heaven.  
It probably was.  
Aeshaettr, the angels, the Spectres, it was all out of her mind right now. There was only Will and the fact they had an enormous room all for themselves.

* * *

Lyra and Will were full, and there tiredness seemed to have melted away. It was ten o'clock PM now, but both were all but exhausted. It could have been the presence of one another, it could have been the enormous amount of food(which disappeared mysteriously after Lyra and Will decided they weren't hungry anymore), or it could have been the feeling they were safe.  
_I wish there would be a private room with a bed in it for two persons_, Lyra thought again. She turned around, and indeed; there was a small room with just one door, which could be sealed off, and when they went in, they found there was a bed for two persons and a small anbaric lantern; Lyra couldn't have wished more. She was satisfied now, she got everything she could've dreamt of. Will, Kirjava, Pantalaimon and Heaven was the greatest combination of them all. Lyra jumped at the bed, soon followed by Will and they kissed.  
What they did won't be told in this story, but it's worth saying it probably was the same thing Lyra and Will would do earlier on the day, if Lyra didn't disappear mysteriously.  
The Republic of Heaven was complete, for now.

* * *

And that's were the chapter ends! This chapter was kind of written... in between, to avoid two explanations and two mysteries coming up straight after each other, which doesn't read well. However, I think I did a terrible job in switching from all the excitement to a romance chapter – please, please, please tell me how to improve that. Until next week!


	11. The Conference of Angels

I know, I'm a little late. However, in my time zone, it's still Sunday, so I kept my word. The fact I'm late is due to circumstances. Well, good luck reading anyway! There is, again, a reference in this chapter, so I've warned you.

* * *

DISCLAIMER: I don't own His Dark Materials. In both the meanings.

* * *

Will stretched himself, back awake again. He wished what time it was, but she didn't know that; so, he simply stepped out of their bed into the big room that was there before.  
_I wish there was a clock somewhere.  
_He looked around, and, not very surprisingly, he saw a clock lying on the floor. It was ten o'clock in the morning. Will wasn't really someone who got up that late, but he was tired; but, he slept enough now. He heard the door open and close again and knew it was Kirjava.  
"You should get a shower, don't you? Because, you _smell_..."  
"Thanks a lot, Kirjava. Well then..."  
_I want a shower now. Preferably with four walls around it._

* * *

Lyra didn't want to be awake. She had the nicest dream she'd ever had, and not surprisingly, it was with Will. They were back in the world of the mulefa, back thirteen, but they enjoyed being together once more, and time seemed to stand still, since it took place just before the Gyptians came picking them up.  
But, she was awake now anyway, so, what was she waiting for?  
She went with her feet out of the bed and the rest soon followed. The marten lying close to her feet looked up.  
"Morning." Her dæmon said.  
"Morning! Have you seen Will?"  
"Nope. I suppose he's in the big room now, although I don't know what he's doing there." Kirjava came in soon afterwards.  
Lyra was always surprised in seeing how beautiful Kirjava was. She was just a normal black cat, but not like Pantalaimon, when he could still transform; no, she seemed much more healthy, and the color of her fur somehow stood her much better than it did with Pantalaimon.  
"Will's showering right now, you need to go into a second room to see him."  
"What's showering?"  
"Why don't you take a look yourself?" Lyra smiled and stroke Kirjava while she went out of the room. Unlike most people, she could freely touch Wills dæmon, with both Wills and Kirjava's acceptance; it was just something to prove to the other that they trusted each other enough to let their souls be touched by one another.

* * *

Will heard a door opening and looked around. But, who else could it have been but Lyra? Kirjava was a cat and cats don't like being soaked in water, and Pantalaimon wouldn't have liked it as well, Will thought.  
"Hey, is this a shower?" Will nodded.  
"You need to stand under it, and the amount of water that comes out will clean you. You can also change its temperature." Lyra walked under it, but was startled by the amount of water that came out. However, the shower wasn't big enough for two and Lyra wanted to try showering as well.  
_I wish there was a second shower next to this one._

* * *

It was one hour later and Lyra wondered why there were no showers in her world, but only in Wills; it was a magnificent invention, that shower thing. They were already changed and were wondering what they should be doing next, when suddenly, there was a knock on the door of their bedroom. Will opened it and saw an angel.  
"Could you come with me, please? Lady Xaphania wants to talk to you in conference with her other angels." Will called for Lyra and soon they followed the small angel, followed by their dæmons. But how would they be leaving the room?  
_I wish we were there already. I don't feel like walking for an hour_, Will complained in his mind.  
Well, since the room replies to your wishes, the door came closer and in just ten seconds, they crossed a distance that seemed like an hour.  
_Of course, I should have known.

* * *

_"Lady Xaphania? I bring you Lyra and Will, as you requested." The angel bowed, turned around and headed for the door. Xaphania shook her head.  
"I'm not a lady but an angel, and I'm your leader, not your queen." She headed for Will and Lyra and said to them, shaking her head: "He's just still too used to Metatron. Well, anyway, have you slept well?" Will and Lyra nodded.  
"Sit down, I was just talking to my advisors. First, let me introduce you." She pointed at the table in front of them.  
It was a long table with around twenty seats, which probably meant twenty advisors, but only eight were present. Xaphania started from the right to the left.  
"Deryl," a skinny male angel nodded,  
"Jurany," a cheerful female angel waved at the two of them,  
"Jaram," a fat male angel smiled,  
"Vurangar," a long angel nodded and smiled,  
"Guvhab," a very young angel winked,  
"Buryl, Dorek and Urana." A small female angel, an old looking angel and a pretty female angel waved. The humans and the dæmons had never seen so many angels in one room before.  
"These are my advisors and I need them to help me. That's exactly why I let you come as well. It's a strange thing to count on your enemy to give information, but I suppose Aeshaettr told you everything he knew?"  
"As far as I'm concerned, yes, he did," Lyra replied nervously. She felt as if she was an intruder, since except for Will, there were only angels in the room.  
"Good, because that's only half the truth. Will, do you carry the knife with you?" Will nodded and took the remainders of it out of his pocket and put them on the table. There were eleven pieces.  
"So it's true... how did you break it? It can't be broken, right?" The fat angel, Will remembered his name was Jaram, spoke.  
"Haven't you read the legends, Jaram? It can be broken by thinking about something which it can't break. What was that?" The old angel, Dorek, spoke this time, looking at Will.  
"I broke it twice, it was repaired the first time. The first time, I thought of my mother, and it broke in seven pieces; the second time, I thought about Lyra. It broke in these eleven pieces."  
"But, who is this Lyra?" It was the young man who spoke, and when Will pointed at Lyra who was standing next to him, he understood.  
"So, why were we summoned to come here? If that knife's broken, there are no problems, right?" Jaram spoke again.  
"And once more, you're proving to us what you don't know," the beautiful Urana spoke. "I wish you read more books when you were still human, Jaram. The knife has a mind of its own, and when the knife breaks, the mind escapes, manifesting itself in the thing that destroyed it. And..."  
"Wait... you actually KNEW about this?" Everyone looked at Lyra, who hadn't said anything since they entered the room.  
"Not before we told Will to break the knife. Calm down, please." It was Xaphania who talked.  
"But, how do we destroy that mind then?" It was the first time Buryl, the small female angel, spoke.  
"Everything bad in the world has a good thing as compensation, and reversed. So, Aeshaettr is bad, but there is a good knife as well." Xaphania said.  
"Well, then give us the knife! We'll destroy it!" Will said.  
"Oh right... our adventures are never that easy, are they?"  
"No, they're not, and nor are they this time. You see, Aemaendr, as the knife is called, has been created by mankind as well. When all hope was lost, when evil triumphed and mankind suffered." Xaphania now looked at Lyra and Will only.  
"It was created when you failed."

* * *

Just another cliffhanger, but I hope you liked it nevertheless! I think everyone who has read the books can work out for themselves what Xaphania's answer is, so, until next week!  
And, if you don't like waiting... I've written three other one-shots you can read. The Night of Riddles is good to read, especially since I referenced to that a couple of times in this story, and Second Choice and the Pomegranate don't have any reviews so far, so start reviewing them!  
For the Doctor Who fans among you; you might like The Doctor's Dæmon, a crossover. And the Golden Sun fans better start reading Long Watches =) Until next week!


	12. The Mystery

I know I'm late again, but I've been struck by the flu... so, help me get better and leave a review^^

* * *

DISCLAIMER: His Dark Materials is not mine.

* * *

About 24 hours earlier and a lot of miles away, three beings were standing confused about the disappearance of the two humans and the two dæmons.  
"Where are they? What happened?" The male angel asked. Aeshaettr could only laugh a little.  
"It seems they were smarter than we were... well, they can't stay there forever. I have a important command for you. Find Lyra and Will, and kill them."  
"But... where exactly are they?" It was the female angel this time.  
"The angels teleported them to protect them. Well, you need to find them, and since you're not welcome in the Republic of Heaven, go looking for them as soon as they've left Heaven. They can't stay there forever, and I really need the knife." A small silence fell, until the male angel broke it.  
"Can we... show them our faces?"  
"Yes... I suppose you can. They have the right to know who you are before they die, don't they?" The pair of angels nodded.  
The angels never wanted to follow Aeshaettrs orders, but they never had a choice. However, he made a terrible mistake this time.

* * *

"What do you mean, created when we failed?" Will and Lyra looked puzzled.  
Xaphania's answer was: "Every decision makes a parallel universe, right? Every decision, but also every dice and every coincidence, and thus every adventure as well. There are a couple of parallel universes created by your adventures. They are very hard to reach, but we managed to. You need to go to one, to go to the universe in which you were killed just before you could enter the world of the dead. The Authority won, and Metatron now rules over those worlds."  
All the angels, humans and dæmons in that room were silent, until Will broke the silence.  
"Where is this knife? Where is Aemaendr?" He accepted he and Lyra had to go there, and Xaphania smiled.  
"We don't know. We can transport you there, but it will cost much energy and you will be a kilometer away – if you're lucky. Do you want to do it?"  
"Yes, we do."  
"Well then, leave the room. I still need to discuss something with my advisors."

Lyra and Will left the room, and the conference of angels started to talk all over each other. Xaphania had to tell them to stop for a while.  
"Listen, listen! SILENCE!" It was silent.  
"I know we've only told them half the truth. I know I did something respectless for them, since we're using them, but they will find out the other half. If we simply give them all the clues, they won't go looking for them and they won't get any wiser themselves. They have to find out the other half, the half that we didn't tell them."  
"I think it's unfair, to use them as kids. They're twenty-three years old and they have the right to know." For once, Jaram seemed to say something that made sense.  
"You're wrong, Jaram. If we tell them all, where they should be looking, why they were together in the first place, they'd hate us and never wanted to cooperate with us. We know who his two angels are, but we can't tell them that either. They've had enough shock." Guvhab was talking.  
"If they will find out, they will refuse, and I don't blame them. We need them to accept, or their earlier victory will have been for naught and all the worlds will be draught in evilness once more – only this evil will be of a much more darker kind. We can't do that, we need them to accept, even when that means we're going to feel bad afterwards. The other half, they will need to find for themselves, so I'm completely with Xaphania on this one." Guvhab was about Wills and Lyra's age, but he said things that made much more sense than somebody with his age should know.  
However, what he said created protest in the other half, that was against Xaphania and wanted to tell everything to Lyra and Will. It would take a long long time before the council would part again.

* * *

"Lady Lyra and Sir Will? Could you please take a small package with you, containing food, drink, and something to sleep on?" The polite angel that escorted them to the conference room was now the same angel that stood at their door. Lyra and Will already knew that was necessary, though, and already established a package.  
"We already have such a thing." They showed it to the polite angel and he nodded.  
"Please follow me to the teleport room."  
Teleporting was something completely new to Lyra and Will, so that's why they didn't understand it. There were, however, more questions they wanted to ask Xaphania, and they would, as soon as they found her. They were hoping she was in the same room they would be brought to.  
And indeed, she was.  
The polite angel bowed when he saw Xaphania, and handed Lyra and Will over to her.  
"Finally, there you are. Come, follow me!" Xaphania said, walking quickly.  
"I have a couple of questions, Xaphania..." Will said. He got enough secrets now, he wanted answers. The angel nodded.  
"Go ahead and ask them!"  
_It's going to hurt, but if necessary, I'm going to lie. I can't tell them, no matter what the council wants._

"That room we slept in... was that... the Republic of Heaven?" The angel smiled and nodded.  
"Yes, it was. It was medium-sized before we brought you together, the ceiling used to be visible, but now you are together, the room is bigger, since more Dust is created. It is pure Dust that reacts on your wishes when you want something. However, you can't stay there forever. You need to go back to your own world. You need bad luck in a day to make maximum use of the good things, and the Republic of Heaven can't give you that."

"Since when are you able to teleport?" Lyra asked the second question.  
"It is a new type of magic that we're yet unable to use fully. We found out not so long ago how it worked, but it still needs perfection."  
"How does it work?"  
"The Dust in your body, along with normal matter, scatters and reforms on the place we want you to. Since Dust can travel freely between worlds, it takes some time for the Dust to arrive on the place we want it to – and it's hard to make it appear on the right place. But, being non-existent isn't in your brain, so it seems like a split second to you, even though it takes a couple of hours. And, since the Dust scatters, it takes a lot of energy for it to do that." Lyra and Will had to take some time to understand the explanation. But, Will had more questions to follow.

"A more important question, you brought us together, creating a window. If we leave that window open, would the Dust... escape?" Xaphania shook her head this time, much to the pleasure of the humans and their dæmons.  
"You're using Dust to create that window, and a barrier of Dust forms to protect it against itself; no Dust escapes. We braught you together for a reason, and we're not going to split you up."  
"But... Aeshaettr manifested itself in the love between us... doesn't that mean we have to be apart?"  
"No, of course not! You're going to destroy Aeshaettr with Aemaendr!" They arrived in the room and Xaphania led them to the place where she wanted them to be.

"Just one last question." It was Will who talked again.  
"Quickly, the magic is almost done, and you need some instructions."  
"When Aeshaettr took us... he had two angels with him... but we couldn't see their faces... who are they?" Xaphania knew this question would come. She couldn't answer it truthfully.  
"I don't know, but it doesn't matter now. You're going to a world without Dust, without hope, only Metatron. You will have some Dust with you, but it comes from another world and that's why it can't spread in that world. You have exactly two days, not counting this one in, and after that, you need to go back to the place we brought you to. From there on, we need to bring you back to your own worlds. If you fail in going there..." Xaphania did not finish her sentence.  
"You're our last hope in finding Aemaendr. Good luck." Next thing Lyra and Will saw was the world they were transported into.

* * *

Did you like it? Did you hate it? Tell me! I really want to know!


	13. The Mirror

I'm better now, I just want to thank all the reviewers so far for letting me know their opinions :) Good luck reading!

* * *

DISCLAIMER: His Dark Materials is not mine, so I don't own it.

* * *

"Will? Will? Are you all right?" He heard the soft voice of Lyra, the voice he wanted to hear for so long. He awoke slowly from the teleport. He fell asleep very quickly after they were teleported; being teleported takes a lot of energy from the person that is teleported. He was exhausted, but he knew it was only the beginning.  
Not to mention the return trip, but that was two days away now.  
"I'm fine, thank you."  
"I don't like it in here... it is so... sad..."  
"All the Dust has disappeared, what did you expect? It's not a circus in here!" As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt sorry for saying them.  
"Sorry, I'm tired. It's the teleport."  
"Yeah. Well, we have three days, counting this one in... so, let's fall asleep? I'll take the first watch." Lyra was more awake than Will, because she was used to a bigger pressure; the pressure of working hard.  
"That's OK." Will started to unpack the package they had, which contained two sleeping bags, and unraveled it on the floor.  
"You take the first watch, I'll take the second, Pan will take the third and Kirjava the fourth?" Will asked. Lyra nodded, she was all right with that.  
"All right, wake me up in three hours." Will got into his sleeping bag and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Lyra watched him, the events of the past night still fresh in her mind. She loved him, more than any word in proper English could say. A plan had been forming in her head, a plan that she would do once this adventure would be over.  
And she was very eager to make it come together.  
It was hard to imagine that just a week ago, she was with Pantalaimon working hard to escape her thoughts of Will.  
Now she had him back into her life, her working pace would slow down. She had nothing to run away from and when she came back, she wanted to spend as much time with Will as possible.  
She looked around, but nothing was seen. She looked at her right and saw Pantalaimon and Kirjava sleeping, although Pantalaimon was only sleeping lightly. His human was awake, and so, he couldn't have dreams or sleep really deeply. Kirjava didn't have that problem, so she really seemed to enjoy her rest for now.  
She wanted to know a couple of things, mysteries. Who were those angels? What was going on? Why were they brought together?  
Again, it was curious that it wasn't that long ago that she didn't have those mysteries. But, she didn't have Will back then.  
Was Will worth those mysteries?  
_Yes, he is.  
_Lyra checked her watch and saw the three hours were over. She kneeled next to Will and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  
"Will? Honey? It's time for you to wake up!" She did it slowly, fearing she'd wake up Kirjava as well. Will got awake.  
"No... I don't want to... not yet... let me sleep!"  
"You and I had a deal, Will!" Lyra still sounded calmly.  
"Huh... ow... sorry, still dreaming." Will sounded really sleepily, but Lyra was sure he wouldn't fall asleep while having the watch. She took a second sleeping back out of the package and started sleeping herself.

* * *

Pantalaimon was awoken by Will and he took the third watch. It was a strange thing to be awake while your human slept, and normal dæmons couldn't do that; but, after Pan was abandoned in the world of the Dead, he became more of an independent being, awake when his human was asleep.  
He felt the love of his human flowing through his own body, and it was reflected by his love for the dæmon of the one Lyra loved.  
A normal pine marten and a normal cat couldn't love, but they weren't exactly normal. And he loved Kirjava, he wanted to be with her.  
Well, the three hours were over. It was Kirjava's watch. With his nose, he awoke Kirjava and went to sleep himself.

* * *

"Morning, time to wake up!" Will awoke Lyra again, after being awoken by Kirjava. Lyra was someone who woke up easily, so she was awoken quickly.  
"Let's start searching, shall we?"  
"Yeah..." She stretched and went out of her sleeping bag.

"You remember us looking for you in my world? We split up back then. I think we should do that now as well. See that tree in there? We meet there again after an hour. I have two watches with me, Lyra, you get the second one. Let's all take one part and start searching." They all walked to the tree. After that, Will walked southeast, Pan northwest, Lyra southwest and Kirjava northeast. They looked in their own particular areas.

Lyra knew what a watch was, she just never carried one with her.  
She hated those things around her waist, and preferred to move her hands freely. It was so strange to see what Wills and her world had in common, and yet they differed so much in the big things... but the small things were the same.  
_What exactly made our worlds so different? _It was a question Lyra came up with during the watch and even though the watch was over, it was one she couldn't let go of. It was very hard to get an answer.  
_Maybe we'll get one once this is all over.  
_Lyra looked around, they had to find Aemaendr today or tomorrow. But the area they had to look in, was so very big, it was hard to find it in two days.  
_And what if we find it? Then, we'll have...  
_Lyra walked around a corner and looked up. She was extremely startled by what she saw and screamed.

* * *

Will heard a scream and immediately knew it was Lyra's.  
_Pan and Kirjava don't scream when they've found an enemy. I would have known with Kirjava and Lyra would've known that Pan found something.  
_He hurried towards the sound, forgetting he would leave his area.  
He got past the tree again, hurried to her part. He had success.  
Lyra stood there.  
But, facing her, was the male angel that Will couldn't see the face of, the angel that helped Aeshaettr. And Will didn't believe what he saw, when he looked at the face of the angel.  
He was looking at himself.

* * *

You've just got the promised excitement! Until next time!


	14. Selfrespect

DISCLAIMER: I don't own His Dark Materials, so don't sue me.

* * *

"Lyra! Run!" Will shouted to her, but the girl shook her head. She couldn't seem to be moving her legs, so Will ran to her, crossing the sight of the angel, who, strangely enough, didn't do anything, and pushed her. Lyra pushed back and said to him: "This is you. How come you want me to run away from yourself?"  
"There is no Dust here, right? Angels are pure Dust, so how come this one exists? It can't be me, it must be something that transformed itself to me, to look just like me. We need to run, now!"  
The angel-Will said something.  
"We won't hurt you. We won't kill you, we only need you to listen to us."  
"We have no time. We..."  
"...Have to find Aemaendr? I am you, I know what you're thinking, so there is no surprise for me. I have Aemaendr with me, but you have to listen to my story first. Better even, our story." A female angel who looked just like Lyra showed up, all of a sudden. It only made them more puzzled, and it was very weird to Lyra and Will to see themselves. It was as if they were looking in a mirror.

"In this dimension, we failed. We tried to hurry towards the World of the Dead, when all of a sudden, a bomb exploded and Lyra was killed. Even back then, I loved her, and as far as I can see, in the future, I would continue loving her.  
She loved me as well, but together, we went into the world of the Dead. Or, we were meant to be there.  
Xaphania lost her battle and the world was covered in darkness; the windows were left open and there was no more Dust left."  
The angel-Will was still talking. Lyra demanded Pantalaimon to come as quickly as possible, in her mind.  
_Pan, come! We need you! Come now and bring Kirjava with you!_

"Yet, we existed as angels. Have you never wondered why angels come in pairs? Angels are created by strong, strong love. Remember Balthamos and Baruch? Or the two angels that helped you, before we killed them? We became angels, but we were creations of pure Dust, and there was no more Dust, so how did we manage to be angels? A simple question that requires a complicated answer."  
_Kirjava, where are you? Come, as soon as possible! Come, now! We need you!  
_"Aeshaettr came from your world and was free to travel to our world. He found us, we were about to become angels, but we couldn't. He created Dust, and thus, he created us. But, he created us that way, that we had to obey his orders."  
"What is that for kind of nonsense? You're free to follow whomever you want to follow, right? Let go of him!" Lyra spoke, apparently listening more than she appeared to listen. The angel-Lyra spoke as a reply.  
"Can you stop breathing? You can't. We can't stop following his orders, we have to, it is a law to stay alive which you can't disobey, just like you breathe. We want to disobey him, but we can't."

"Why are you telling this? We had two explanations already, now a third. What is your goal? Are you going to ask for mercy? If you do, you can't get any. We need Aemaendr now." It was Will who spoke. At the same time, he thought even harder than he was talking.  
_Kirjava, what happened? Why aren't you coming towards us? Why don't I get a reply?  
_He finally got one.  
_Wait... tired... on my way... Spectre...  
_"Aeshaettr ordered us to find you and to kill you. But, he didn't tell us _when_ we should kill you, so we're not disobeying his orders. I don't know what he's doing now, but we're asking you for help."

"We're going to kill Aeshaettr, so, what's all the fuss?" Lyra was talking again.  
"It's not enough. Because, as soon as Aeshaettr is killed, parts of him remain in the knife. You need to destroy it, completely, before killing him. If not, we're doomed to follow his orders forever, and since he isn't there anymore, we'll have the worst life ever."  
_Pantalaimon?! Where are you?! Come! NOW!  
_Pantalaimon managed to send – or better put, think – a reply.  
_Kirjava is found... we're running from a Spectre... we can't come your way..._

"We need to talk. Will, come." Will came with her, to a place where they could talk in private. It was close to a couple of trees.  
"We have no time to waste. We need Aemaendr. We can't save this world, simply because it isn't a use. These angels killed other angels, so we can't trust them. And our dæmons are another problem, so we can't waste time." Will said.  
"I don't think this sentence has ever been used this accurately, but you must show a little bit more self-respect. How can you kill yourself like this?! Is this what you think of yourself?! That could have been you! We HAVE to save this world, if we can! THINK! They are created from Dust, so if Aeshaettr is killed, they can spread out and Dust will exist once more!"  
"We can't trust them! If we destroy the knife, Aeshaettr will be complete! They could be given the order to tell us this, to order us to destroy the Subtle Knife! And, the Dust will simply flow out again, since all the windows are still open! Saving this world is of no use, since there will be other worlds that reflect our failure in this one! We can only save the group of worlds WE live in!" Will shouted back. Both were startled; they never had a fight before. Lyra found the plan of Will heartless, but she had to give in.  
"How are we going to get Aemaendr?"  
"Leave that to me. Do you have a knife with you? We're going to use something they don't know, but we do."

* * *

"All right, game is over. You won't be rescued. Give us Aemaendr now, or the reforged knife will kill you." Will held up a simple knife that resembled Aeshaettr. Their angel-selves were startled.  
"DROP THE KNIFE!" Will shouted, to hide his nervousness. If something went wrong... this was an extraordinary case of fooling yourself.  
The angels were startled, though, and didn't seem to realize they could've known this was a trap.  
They dropped Aemaendr.  
"Good... now go backwards." The angels followed Wills orders. Will took Aemaendr. Then, everything happened at once.

Pantalaimon and Kirjava ran into the scene, chased by a couple of Spectres, joined by the Spectres of these worlds.  
But the Spectres seemed to hold back, they seemed to draw a border. A blue light appeared, shining around the angels, Will, and Lyra.  
In the sky, a laughter was heard.  
Aeshaettr appeared, and he floated in the sky.

* * *

Just count to ten, breath easy and don't hit me^^ You've got a week to wait, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. But...  
I need your help. I'm done writing this story, all chapters are finished. But I don't know what to do next. I've got a couple of ideas, but I can't do all at once and choosing between them is hard. Could you help me out, by going to my profile page and voting in my poll? Your vote counts, it'll really help me out!


	15. Battles and Choices

DISCLAIMER: I don't own His Dark Materials.

* * *

The dæmons stopped running. The angels didn't dare to even breath. The Spectres didn't move. Will and Lyra could only be afraid of this enemy. Will just had Aemaendr, but he couldn't reach his villain, since he was floating in the sky. Slowly, he came down to the two Wills and the two Lyra's, to the angels first. Time seemed to stand still while he did that.  
Aeshaettr was much less spirit-ish, being less transparent when he switched, which rarely happened; the reason was what happened the last couple of nights.  
"I'll deal with you later." He sounded very mad, but eventually, he came down to the humans.  
"Well done... you almost got there! You just forget one little thing and that's that you're not going to survive this! I don't know why you ran, but I'm making an end to this now."  
_He doesn't know about Aemaendr! That might save us!_ Will thought.

"Well... I like explanations as well, so I'll just explain you everything you don't want to hear. I like to see you suffer! And when you're dead, I'll take the Subtle Knife, burn it, make myself complete and conquer all the worlds!"  
Aeshaettr seemed in his element, but he didn't know he was in danger, he didn't know about Aemaendr. If only Will and Lyra could use it to their own benefit...  
"Why did you want to have us together?" It was Lyra who was talking. They needed more time, time to form a plan... Pan and Lyra could communicate with their thoughts, maybe that was a way out...  
"Several reasons, but you've noticed I only told you half the truth. You're smart, that's why I need you dead. Did you think Dust was the only reason to bring you together? I used some magic to reveal myself to Xaphania, and she knew I had to make myself visible. That's why she brought you together.  
Face it, kid, you're just a stupid tool to those angels."  
_  
Kirjava, have you noticed Aeshaettr doesn't know why we ran here? _Will asked Kirjava.  
_As it happens, yes. Do you have any idea how to bring Aeshaettr within reach of the knife? _This was Kirjava's reply.  
_Jump at him when he comes low enough? _Will was desperate, hoping they'd find a solution soon.  
_Then we have to bring him lower. We need a decoy.  
__Or, we use the angels..._ Will replied.

"Why do you want to rule the worlds?"  
"Because, I like to. I serve my own side only and I want power, infinite power, as far as the eye can see. And I will get it, you will die. More questions?"  
Will looked at his angel self and the angel Will looked back. He hoped the same personality would mean a big predictability, if the angels were on his side.  
He had no time to doubt, everything would be welcome.

"Who are you in this world? Where is the Subtle Knife here?" Lyra asked a question. They needed more time, more time to make a plan that would work.  
_Just keep him talking.  
_"It is still in one piece, it hasn't been destroyed, after all. I don't know where I am here, I didn't really search for myself. That would just cause a big identity crisis, right?"  
"How did the people of Cittágazze create you?" Will asked the next question. There were still a couple of minutes necessary to make sure they got a good plan.  
_  
We just wait until he chooses somebody to attack. When that happens, we kill him. That's the plan?_ Pantalaimon asked Lyra.  
_Yes._ was Lyra's reply.  
_I'll volunteer. _It was Pantalaimon again.

"They wanted a fantastic knife for power. By giving it a mind, they'd give it more power, but I'm not created by Dust, I'm a being of separate thoughts. That's why your Golden Compass doesn't have a mind like me. There's only me!" Aeshaettr said, and he laughed.  
"Any more questions?" Will looked at Lyra and she shook his head slightly. It was silent for a while.  
"No? Then you'll die, now! Who wants to die first?"  
"I will." Everyone turned their heads to see Pantalaimon. He stepped forward and Aeshaettr didn't mind there was a volunteer. He didn't see the plan that was plotting behind his back...

Pantalaimon would die first.  
He went to Will first, who couldn't move, knowing the Spectres would kill him then. If he could be able to attack Aeshaettr before a reply was possible, he would survive. If he wasn't fast enough, he would die by the Spectres; if he was too quick, he might miss when stabbing Aeshaettr.  
Aeshaettr arrived and he wanted to take a piece of the knife out of his pocket. This was the time, now he should attack.  
But Aeshaettr seemed to have grabbed the knife already and he went to Pantalaimon. Will shared a look with his angel self and he hoped the angel understood.

_Pan, it's for the best. Try to evade if possible.  
_It could have been his own thoughts. It could have been Kirjava who pretended to reply as Pantalaimon. But he did receive a reply. He didn't know how that was possible, there was no explanation, since Pan wasn't his dæmon, but he did get a reply.  
_I know._

Aeshaettr attacked and left a big wound in Pantalaimon. Will looked at his right and saw Lyra passing out. He had to act now.  
The angels jumped at Aeshaettr, keeping him on the ground. Surprised, Aeshaettr didn't remember a simple order was enough, and Will ran to him, holding Aemaendr in his hand.  
"This knife is going to kill you! HERE AND NOW!"  
"Stop it... please... I beg you..."  
Will never heard Aeshaettr begging for his life, and if he tried to stay alive, he didn't really do a good job. It only made Will despise the spirit.  
He brought the knife to Aeshaettrs throat, who seemed to forget there were two angels next to him who could stop the death threat easily. Possibly because he panicked.  
He sliced through the throat of Aeshaettr, who fell down. It was over at last, or was it?

Will looked back, to Lyra, and saw her face was pale. He had to hurry now.  
Or everything would have been for naught.

* * *

I want to thank everyone who voted in the poll, it helped me see what I should give priority. But I still need more votes, because 4 unique voters is not very much. Could the ones who didn't vote help a desperate writer out by picking up to two choices in my poll? Thanks a lot in advance!  
By the way, I'm not done with Aeshaettr yet. I've still got four chapters left and while they're not all going to be excitement, it's not over yet. Until next Sunday!


	16. A Pyhrric Victory

Has any fanfiction writer ever apologized for posting too soon? I'm going to now, but I did it with reason. I'm not sure whether I can post on Sunday, because I'm busy then, so I'm going to do it now. Enjoy reading!

* * *

DISCLAIMER: I don't own His Dark Materials.

* * *

The Spectres disappeared and there was no one left at the scene, except for Will, Will, Lyra, Lyra, Pan and Kirjava.  
The first Lyra, the human one, was still in terrible pain, feeling the hurt of her dæmon.  
They still had a day left to be teleported back, so they found it too soon.  
"How can we... can you heal Pan?"  
"We can't help you. We still have to kill you, so we have to see Pan continue bleeding. The orders can only be reversed if you kill the rest of Aeshaettr."  
Will didn't doubt the angels anymore. It was the best thing he could do now. He took the remainders of the Knife out of his pocket.  
He stabbed every single one with Aemaendr, knowing this would set the rest of Aeshaettr free.  
Indeed, a small ghost appeared with every stab Will made. It grew bigger and bigger.  
It was Aeshaettr, revived by someone who wanted him dead.  
"I AM FREE! I AM COMPLETE NOW!" A maniacal laugh came from the Aeshaettr that seemed to be smaller. However, he grew more steady, apparently strong enough to do without the Aeshaettr Will had just killed.  
The Spectres were reappearing.  
But Will had enough, he was fed up. This guy almost killed both of them, he managed to bring two angel forms to his side, forcing them to obey him. He was the reason Pantalaimon was bleeding and nearing death, and thus, Lyra nearing death as well. He grabbed Aemaendr and stabbed Aeshaettr in the heart.  
"You're not free, nor complete. Go to hell." The Spectres disappeared.

* * *

"We can't heal Pantalaimon, but Xaphania can." So the angel-Will said to Will, who heard Lyra screaming in pain.  
Knowing Lyra was going to die if she didn't feel anything good, Will picked up Pantalaimon.  
For a moment, Lyra forgot about her pain. It felt so different than when that man at Bolvangar picked up Pantalaimon; this didn't feel _wrong_, this felt _right_. So right... but then, the pain was back. She knew Pan was about to die. She'd follow him soon.  
"Will... Will..."  
"No! Don't give in now! We're together again! Not after all those years of loneliness!"  
"You'll follow me, right? I'll wait for you, forever if I need to..."  
"No! You're going to SURVIVE!" Will shouted.  
The angel-Will interrupted.  
"Listen. You can't do anything to aid her, only we can. We have about enough magic to teleport you back to the Republic of Heaven, where Xaphania can heal her. Hold on to me, tightly. Lyra, grab Lyra and hold me," he spoke to his angel-lover.  
Will held Pantalaimon tightly in his arms while Kirjava was wrapped around his neck. He saw his angel self gathering magic and soon enough, he saw the background changing.

They were back in the Republic of Heaven.  
Back in the big, big room.  
Will knew exactly what to do.  
_I want something that Pantalaimon can be healed with!  
_When he looked around, Xaphania stood there, confused about the change of the background, but understanding when she saw Pantalaimon bleeding.  
She took Pantalaimon with her and gave her the touch of an angel that truly wants to heal someone. Pantalaimon was healed very quickly, but both him and Lyra were still recovering. Pantalaimon lost a lot of blood, was stabbed by a piece of the Subtle Knife, so it was a fifty fifty chance he'd survive, and thus, also a fifty fifty chance for Lyra. Xaphania disappeared.

"You know... Aeshaettr is dead now. The one that killed him, was you. That means we have to follow your orders now until you die." The angel Will said.  
"I have my very first order for you, then. Go back to your own worlds and close all the windows. Afterwards, come back to me." Will was holding Lyra's hand and only looked at her, not looking at his angel self.  
The angels disappeared, following Wills order. It was clear to them what Will was planning.

"Lyra... are you OK?" He said, his voice being softer than when he spoke against his angel self. Lyra cried. She wanted so much with Will... it was impossible, after all. Well, at least she'd die with Will by her side...  
"No, not really. My dæmon is about to die..."  
"He's not going to. He will recover, and you will as well. I have faith in you." He held the hand of his lover tightly, not wanting to let go, afraid that when he did, he would let go of her life. Afraid that she would die if he let go of her hand.  
Lyra opened her mouth, but Will silenced her.  
"No, don't say anything, that would just ruin the scene and cost you a lot of energy. This is just our moment, and we will look back to it with a smile when we're older. For now, just be silent. This second belongs to you and me only."  
From the corner of his eye, he saw Kirjava was with Pantalaimon, licking his fur. Both were hoping it would help.  
Lyra could not die, that was impossible.

The second became a minute and the minute became fifteen minutes before Will wished something.  
_I want something Lyra can sleep on. She has deserved some rest.  
_His face turned around, looking the other way, and he saw the most luxury bed ever, for two persons. He picked up Lyra and brought her to the bed. She was stunningly light; apparently she lost blood when Pantalaimon did, making her lighter. He never let go of her hand.  
He put her in the bed and picked up Pantalaimon afterwards, bringing him to her feet, forced to let go of Lyra's hand, but taking her hand back into his when he could.  
He lied himself next to her, stroking her hair, telling her to fall asleep. She did very quickly, but Will tried to combat the sleep. He wanted to see if Lyra would be all right.  
But, fighting Aeshaettr, searching for Aemaendr, traveling through a lot of worlds and being teleported makes you tired and eventually, the tiredness he had before won again. He fell asleep next to Lyra, her hair in his hands, holding softly.

* * *

I'm going to wish all of you, from the bottom of my heart, a very merry christmas =) I also want to thank all of the voters.  
By the way, we all know how it's going to end, but nevertheless, I hope you'll stick with me until the last chapter. I have a small surprise for you in the next chapters. So, it's not over yet. Until next Sunday!


	17. Relief Times Two

There's a reference in this chapter again!

* * *

DISCLAIMER: Last time I checked, I didn't own His Dark Materials. I don't think anything has changed.

* * *

Will woke up from his dream, startled, not knowing what woke him up. He lifted his back and sat down, and he looked around, wondering what he was doing here.  
_Oh right, I remember. Aeshaettr dead, the subtle knife destroyed, Pantalaimon stabbed and… LYRA!  
_He was fully awake, but tired, since he didn't sleep that much. He looked at his right and saw Lyra lying there. He laid his ear on her chest, wanting to hear her heart beat.  
He did, to his relief. Lyra was still alive.  
"She's going to make it now. Fall asleep, you've earned some rest." Somehow, the voice didn't startle him. It was Xaphania's voice, and she appeared soon afterwards. He felt her hand on his head, that was still lying on Lyra's chest, and felt slumber getting the better of him while Lyra's heartbeat sung him to sleep…

* * *

"You're too concerned about them. You shouldn't let emotions cloud your judgment," It was Guvhab. He stood at the end of the bed where Lyra and Will were sleeping in, and he was talking to Xaphania.  
"Aren't you concerned? These two deserve to live, we didn't even pay them back half of what they deserve. They have to live their happy lives now. Look at their tension, their sadness making the Kingdom of Heaven smaller. Just look up and you'll see the ceiling is visible. It's due to them the Kingdom used to be so big. Why shouldn't we pay them back?"  
"You truly are different from Metatron. Let's hope it's for the better, right?"  
"It is. Come with me, Guvhab. We have work to do."  
Guvhab followed Xaphania and together, they left the room, Guvhab still shaking his head. He didn't agree with the way Xaphania ruled, but he had no choice.

* * *

The touch of Xaphania made Will sleep dreamless, but he slept very well, very deeply, not moving. When he woke up again, he found his head still at the same place, hearing Lyra's heartbeat. He felt the hands of Lyra going through his hair.  
He saw Pantalaimon was in full health.  
"Thank you so much for caring about me... it is thanks to you I'm still alive, Will." Pan came to him and sniffed and licked his face. He turned his head around and saw Lyra there, as healthy as a human could look like. They kissed, glad to see each other well.  
Lyra was glad she could do her plan now anyway. She was very glad not to have told Will about it, she wanted to keep it a surprise.  
They didn't have to change, since they didn't change into their pyjama's previously.  
However, they did undress themselves, wanting to shower, because they needed the warm water now.  
Afterwards, they wished a couple of new clothes to change into. They were in the Kingdom of Heaven, but they knew they had to leave it soon.  
They walked to the door, wanting to tell Xaphania they were all right. They found her in another room, in conference with a couple of other angels, but she wasn't angry to be disturbed. She just smiled and said she was pleased to see they were all right. They left the room and went back to the Kingdom of Heaven, enjoying their day in there.

* * *

Six o'clock PM and they were having their dinner, knowing this would be the last dinner they would have in the Kingdom of Heaven. Lyra saw a couple of pomegranates lying on a plate and she knew what to do.  
"You know... Will?"  
"Yes?"  
"In my world, there is a myth, and I don't know if your world has it as well.  
There was once a goddess that was tempted by a god, who gave her a pomegranate, and she loved him forever. The stories say that if you offer someone a pomegranate, that person will love you forever. Do you?" She offered Will a pomegranate. Without hesitation, he took it and ate it.

Will had totally forgotten about the angels, so his surprise was big when their angel-selves appeared in the room.  
"Will, we did as you told us. All the windows are closed, but it took us some time. What do you want us to do?" Lyra nodded. She knew what happened, what Will ordered the angels.  
"Go to your own worlds again. In there, release yourself into pure Dust. It will be picked up by the humans there, and they will produce more. I will ask Xaphania to go to your worlds once there is enough Dust. Your world of the dead needs to have a window, and she will create one. Metatron and the Authority were angels, consisting of pure Dust; they are no longer there, so now, you will be free to rule your own worlds." The angels nodded and went back to their own world, following their last order.  
"I wonder... what happens if we die?" Lyra thought out loud.  
"If we die, we will become angels. We will search for Pans and Kirjava's atoms, we will make them one again. Our love is strong enough." Will replied.  
She nodded.

* * *

It was ten o'clock PM, but both had rested enough. They were in bed, but they didn't sleep. They talked and enjoyed love, just like their dæmons did. They would be together forever now, never alone.  
They loved it.  
Just as much as they loved each other.  
Which was very much.

* * *

Ten o'clock AM and both were awake again; Xaphania came in their room, which they had wished shortly after their dinner, and asked them to follow, after they had showered. There would be something she would tell them.

* * *

Well, you know, I'm better in writing sadness than happiness down, which is the reason why this chapter is a little awkward.  
But, I think one or two more chapters will do, now. Just like when I started, I need to finish this story fully, and that takes some chapters. I hope you will read how their lives will continue, and I think those two chapters are going to be better than this one.

That leaves me with saying just one thing. Thursday, we'll be in 2009, so I'm going to wish all of you a very happy new year, may all your wishes come true and I hope you'll all have loads of inspiration! See you in 2009!


	18. Promises and a surprise

DISCLAIMER: For the eighteenth time, I don't own His Dark Materials.

* * *

"Lyra, Will, could you come with me, please? I have to tell you and the Conference of Angels something." They nodded and followed Xaphania.  
When they entered the same room they had entered before, they looked around and were shocked by the number of advisors it contained now. Not just eight angels, not twenty as it was the meaning, no, fifty advisors and fifty seats were there. Knowing all of the names would take too much time, but the angels they did know sat the closest to Xaphania, probably meaning those were her most trusted advisors.  
Xaphania sat down on a seat and started to talk.  
"Angels of these worlds, I have something to tell you. Today, all the worlds were saved from the lust of a spirit created by humans.  
And it wasn't by me, not by a member of the Council of Angels, not by any other angel.  
Instead, it was done by these two humans and their dæmons. We owe them a great deal.  
In the past, Lyra and Will rescued these worlds twice; once because they opened a window to let the dead out, and the second time because they freed – and thus, killed – the Authority.  
We didn't even pay half back of what we owe them.  
It is time we're going to." Xaphania now looked at Lyra and Will only.

"Lyra, Will, once you get home, both of you will find a house on the exact same spot. You will live there together, with as much windows open as you'd like – you know how to make them, after all.  
You will have our blessings. Once you're too old to take care of yourself, too old to still maintain your houses, we will close all the windows the house has. We will bring you to the Kingdom of Heaven, where you will spend your last days together. And once that is done, you'll become angels, just like all of us.  
You will bring your dæmons along; it is rare to have that, but, we're paying you back.  
You will be brought to your homes by two angels, who are respectively Guvhab and Dorek. We will help you find a house to live together.  
You, the two of you and your children – and your children's children, and their children, will have our blessings." Both found it a bit too soon to think about children, but Will wanted them and Lyra wanted them as well.

A big smile was on the faces of all the angels.  
"Now, go, and go to your houses, to your own worlds. Until a lot of years, hopefully not too soon." Xaphania winked. She nodded to Guvhab and Dorek and they were brought home soon afterwards – Will by Guvhab and Lyra by Dorek.

Lyra would see Will very soon afterwards, just an hour was necessary to do what she wanted. She had plenty of money and she saw the thing she wanted to buy; all that was necessary was someone to buy it for.  
And she found him.  
She went to the jewelry next door and ordered it. She could get it straight away, just as she wanted.

Dorek would come tomorrow, to help her find a house; however, Lyra knew the place of Wills house in her world, so it was not too hard to visit him again.  
She walked out of the jewelry and walked to the spot where Will lived. She used the way of travelling – seeing a shape, even though it wasn't there – and walked to Wills world, to Wills house. He'd seen her already. Some time passed.

"Will, there is something I want to tell you, something I want to tell you now. Some would say I'm rather quick in saying this, but both of us know I actually waited too long. Will you let me?" Wills heart was beating out of his chest again. He knew exactly what Lyra was going to ask.  
_Oh my... she's going to ask me!  
_He nodded.  
"Why do people wait until they marry? Because they want proof, they want to be certain their love is strong enough to confirm it by law. They first go steady, later on they live in the same house and then they marry. All because normal people want – and need – proof. But we don't need proof to know our love is strong. The angels proved it to us, by being forced to bring us together, the Kingdom of Heaven proved it to us, by being too big to let the ceiling be visible, and Aeshaettr proved it, by being in a steady shape due to our love. We even proved it ourselves by making the love last ten years.  
For you, I'd be glad to be called Lyra Parry.  
Tradition says you should ask me, but I never liked traditions anyway.  
That's why I ask you now, William Parry..." She went on one knee and held Wills hand at the same time. "... Do you want to marry me?" There was no doubt in Wills mind. He loved her, he knew they would never part again.  
"Yes."

"Then, there is something I want to give to you. I have two of these, and you'll like it." She got a box out of her left pocket and opened it in Wills sight. He saw a beautiful ring, with two diamonds at the top, touching each other at one point in the middle of the ring.  
"These diamonds represent our worlds, unable to be touched by each other, except on one point. That one point represents you and me, and the fact we'll never be parted again. Will..." She looked him in the eyes for a couple of times. The words she said came out of the bottom of her heart.  
"...I love you."  
She put the ring around the finger of Will. Then, she stood up, got another box out of her right pocket with the same ring in it, and he put Lyra's ring around her finger.  
Again, it was silent for a while, because no one dared to break the precious silence of the two of them.  
Will kissed Lyra after the silence. To him, they were already married.  
It was silent again, but now because none of them could talk, entwined in a kiss.  
They would never part again.

* * *

More to follow…


	19. In Sickness and in Health

You will find some small references to one-shots I've written. You don't need to read them, though.  
I've never seen an English marriage, so most of the official things said during the wedding come either from my imagination or from books. Enjoy!

* * *

DISCLAIMER: For the final time, at least for this story, I'll say it. I don't own His Dark Materials. *Gets sentimental*

* * *

They married twice, once in both worlds, to make sure they would be recognized in both worlds as husband and wife.  
This was the first time, the marriage in Lyra's world.  
Six months had passed, in which Mary Mallone and Elaine Parry were informed. They were very, very pleased to know Lyra was back and to know she would never leave again. They were at the first wedding, and would be at the second as well.  
Lyra's friends of the Jordan college and the college of Dame Hannah, were at the wedding as well. However, none of them knew the truth about Will. She'd like to keep it a secret; it was very unnatural to travel between worlds and her house wouldn't be some kind of portal.  
Of course, there was an exception.  
When it became really hard, Lyra told a friend of hers the truth, Roanne. She believed her – to her confusion – and had been a great support. She would be at the second marriage too.  
She was sitting in the first row, smiling.  
She went steady with someone who adored her, who tried having a relationship with Lyra first, but gave up on it when he realised Lyra's heart belonged to somebody else.  
Billy Costa.

Unfortunately, he couldn't come; he said he was quite busy working on things with the Gyptians.  
Of course, Billy seduced Roanne the same way as he tried with Lyra. He offered her a pomegranate.  
Greek myth said that if someone offers another person a pomegranate and the other person eats it, the eater will love the offerer forever. Of course it wasn't true, but it was Billy's way to show someone he loved that person.  
Unlike Lyra, with whom he tried first, but she refused, Roanne happily accepted the pomegranate. They were still together, so maybe there was something true about the myth.  
Lyra was slowly working less hard; she had nothing to run away from. But, since she worked hard for a long time, it was hard for her to stop doing that. She was stopping slowly. She looked at Will and after that, at the man who was going to marry them.

"Do the dæmons, respectively Kirjava and Pantalaimon, accept this marriage?" It was part of the tradition. A "no" was rare, and not an option here.  
"I do." Pantalaimon and Kirjava replied simultaneosly.  
"William Parry, do you take Lyra Belacqua, also named Lyra Silvertongue, as your wife, forever? Do you accept the love of the pine marten-dæmon Pantalaimon?" Will looked at Lyra. For him, it was impossible to reply no, especially not when he looked at Lyra.  
"Yes, I do."  
"Lyra Belacqua, also named Lyra Silvertongue by Iorek Byrnison, do you take William Parry as your beloved husband, forever? Do you accept the love of the cat-dæmon Kirjava?" Lyra smiled and replied exactly the same.

* * *

"Then, you may kiss each other now." The second marriage, in Wills world, one day later.  
They kissed for a couple of seconds, soon to let go. Will looked in the room and saw his mother sitting there, smiling. Next to her was Mary Mallone, who had a smile even brighter – which made sense, she knew what Lyra and Will went through. She held hands with her fiancée, someone who she met a year ago, and winked. Will smiled. He knew he had friends, and he had someone who loved him more than anything. And he felt the same thing back. What else could he want?

* * *

They walked out of the church after the marriage, after all the congratulations they got. They were tired of the ceremony, so they walked out of the church; Lyra in her wedding dress, Will in his wedding suit. They held hands, walking out of the church, unable to do anything but smiling. Their dæmons – invisible to most of the guests – followed them.  
Lyra started to talk.  
"You know... Aeshaettr came back to haunt us. We have made a couple of enemies during this adventure, and during our previous one. Do you think we'll meet more of them during our lives?"  
"I don't know." He looked at her and wondered if all those enemies were worth her.  
Metatron, Aeshaettr, possibly a parallel Metatron, or a parallel Authority. Perhaps a parallel Aeshaettr was possible too, still leaving out the problems he had had in his own world just before he met Lyra. Being together with her wouldn't be without risks, it would mean enemies.  
Was Lyra worth all those enemies?  
He looked at her, at her face, at every loving part of her he could see. His mind came up with the answer.  
_Yes._

All the girlfriends he had had were nothing compared to her, in his eyes. He loved her, he loved everything she was in the past, in the present and would be in the future.  
Of course, their passion would die like any other love. There is no passion in the world, nor in any other world, that survives years of relationship.  
Of course, they would have rows, like any other love. It was necessary; there is no love anywhere that lasts without rows.  
But they knew. Will knew, Lyra knew. But they knew that despite their passion would die, despite the fact they would have rows, they would have a love so strong it could bring down civilizations. So strong, it would influence the size of the Republic of Heaven. So strong, it would influence the actions of angels themselves. And that was more than they ever could've wished for.  
Some would say, when they were walking out of the church, they would go to their houses to talk.  
Others would say they'd go to a restaurant to eat together and have a great time.  
And if they knew what Lyra and Will had been through, maybe they'd say Will and Lyra were going to the world of the mulefa, because it was nice and calm there – or to the Republic of Heaven.  
But they were all wrong.  
Lyra and Will were going to China.

* * *

As you know, I'm writing a sequel. However, you'll have to train your patience for that, since I'm planning to post it somewhere halfway february.  
I'm having high expectations of it, you might just have seen a couple of references to it in this story. For now, though, I'm glad I've finished it.  
I thank all of you that you read my story! I hope you liked it! I thank all the reviewers as well, and the voters or just the people who put me on alert or favourited me. I also thank everyone who helped me in this story in any way; you know who you are. Thank you.  
Until February!


End file.
